NY Public Service Commission approves Con Edison electric pricing pilot program

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) recently approved a pricing pilot program for Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison) to help customers better manage their energy costs.

The program helps customers align their energy use to price signals to help reduce their energy costs. Providing consumers with more choices for how they manage and consume electric energy is an important element of New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) strategy, which aims to build a clean, resilient and affordable energy system.

“Con Edison’s pricing pilot program is a careful and innovative approach to allow New Yorkers to use accurate price signals to lower their energy costs,” Commission Chair John B. Rhodes said. “Improving consumer choice and affordability is a guiding principle of our clean energy policies.”

On March 17, 2016, the PSC issued an order approving advanced meters (AMI) for Con
Edison customers. In that order, the Commission also directed Con Edison to develop a pilot
program to test new rate structures made possible through AMI. In accordance with that order, Con Edison implemented customer data privacy protections that will apply to the pilot.

The pilot program rates are primarily demand-based and are designed to more closely align delivery charges with the cost of providing delivery service. The program will test whether customers will reduce peak demand, which will reduce infrastructure costs and costs for all customers. It will also provide insights about customer acceptance, satisfaction and preferences, as well as bill and peak demand impacts of the rate structures.

Con Edison will recruit about 67,000 customers with AMI meters from Staten Island, Westchester County, and Brooklyn areas for the program using opt-in and opt-out enrollment strategies. All recruited customers will be provided a one-year price guarantee. Customers can discontinue service under the program at any time but will not be able to re-enroll for 18 months. The program is expected to conclude in March 2022. The company and regulators will use the results of the program to determine whether the program should be expanded.