What's in my Powerbill?

The simplest answer to this question is that over the past two years, my real electricity rate has fluctuated from .24c per kWh to .36 cents per kWh. If history is any teacher, I expect this number to rise, unless there are significant regulatory or market fluctuations.

Here’s a chart showing the total electric rate I pay in White Plains New York, post taxes and fees, from Jun 21 until Sept 2023.

While this chart answer the simple question of electricity rates in Westchester, it also shows some interesting trends. First off, my energy supply cost has doubled in 2 years. In June 2021 the supply rate, after taxes and fees, was about $.08 per kWh, an in July 2023, the cost is about $.16kWh. The second big observation is the high cost of delivering electricity. In 2021, my electricity delivery rate was 2x supply rates. Today, I pay nearly the same rate for delivery and supply.

My ConEd bill is not so simple as rates for supply and delivery, there are a few other taxes and fees and a basic charge for the privilege of ConEd delivering energy to my home. Here’s a chart breaking down all the components of my electric bill for the same time period. Gas will be a separate discussion.

Here are a few observations from this data from my electric bills.

1. Up until July 20222, electric delivery is considerably more expensive than electric supply. This all changed abruptly in Aug 22 as electricity rates took off.
2. As electric bills get lower in the winter, the electric delivery basic charge becomes more significant. However, this all changed when I got an EV in Nov 22. The electric delivery basic charge becomes negligible once I started charging an EV at home, but the supply increases considerably as compared to the same months in 2021. In December of 21 my supply costs were about 30% of my bill, after an EV, my supply costs became over 42% of my bill.
3. From August 2022-November 2022, I started paying supply merchant function charges and Gross Receipt Tax (GRT) for 3 months, randomly, on electric supply. I haven’t asked ConEd why I had fees show up for 3 months and then disappear, but there are many charges that come and go on my utility bills.

So I’m paying over $.36/KwH for combined supply, demand, taxes and fees. A basic Internet search shows that these are some of the highest rates in the USA. One of the biggest take-aways for me is that ConEd delivery rates are always more expensive than energy supply. Even if I switch my supplier to save a few cents per KwH, my delivery rates are untethered to electrical supply. I will dive into electric delivery rates, the regulations that drive them, and explain further in other posts.

I started this post with a simple question – What is my electricity rate? The answer is not so simple, but boils to $.36/KwH, TODAY. Judging by history of ConEd, White Plains taxes and fees, and New York State energy initiatives my rates will only be increasing. But, we’ll stay focused on this issue throughout the blogging experiment.