Senator O'Mara's weekly column 'From the Capitol' -- for the week of November 2, 2026 -- 'Watch out: Even higher utility rates could arrive right after Election Day'

Senator O'Mara offers his weekly perspective on many of the key challenges and issues facing the Legislature, as well as on legislative actions, local initiatives, state programs and policies, and more.  Stop back every Monday for Senator O'Mara's latest column...

This week, "Watch out: Even higher utility rates could arrive right after Election Day"

So-called energy rebates, called POWER checks, are arriving in the mailboxes of millions of New Yorkers from Governor Hochul -- a move costing state taxpayers, as I highlighted in a recent column, more than $1 billion.

These $100 or $200 payoffs shouldn’t fool anyone. The POWER checks are purely about this year’s election -- a blatant attempt to buy off ratepayers’ anger. It’s taxpayer-funded electioneering that, in the end, won’t make a bit of difference to ratepayers whose lives have been turned upside down and made miserable over the past several years by the skyrocketing utility costs that have defined the Hochul era in New York government.

Here’s the rub: Keep an eye on the post-election consequences. If reelected to another four-year term, what could be Governor Hochul’s next delivery to New York’s ratepayers?

Background: It was a little over a year ago, in September 2025, when I joined regional legislative colleagues in a letter to the governor and the state Public Service Commission (PSC) calling on them to oppose the latest rate increase request from New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG). Our opposition also extended to a rate increase request from Rochester Gas & Electric (RGE).

“As a regulated monopoly, NYSEG benefits from a guaranteed customer base and is already operating at a profit,” we wrote. “There is no justification for forcing ratepayers, who have no ability to choose another provider, to bear even higher costs without commensurate improvements in service.”

It’s outrageous that regional ratepayers are even facing this possible increase. It was just three years ago, in October 2023, that the PSC approved multi-year rate increases for NYSEG and RG&E customers, with a typical residential customer getting hit with a cumulative increase of over 30% that was phased in through 2025. NYSEG and RG&E are now seeking another increase. NYSEG, for example, wants an approximately 23.7 percent increase for electric service, with some service classes even higher. If approved, it would cost the average household approximately $67 more per month or over $800 per year.

We wrote in September 2025, “Families across our districts are reaching their financial breaking point. Seniors on fixed incomes, small businesses, and working families have contacted our offices to express deep concern and understandable outrage over rising bills. Approving this hike, layered on top of the recovery fee, smart meter costs, and policy-driven increases, would worsen affordability, and accelerate the out-migration of New Yorkers seeking lower costs of living elsewhere.”

It can’t go forward, we argued. Skyrocketing utility costs have been the number one constituent complaint that our offices have been fielding over the past several years. And rightly so. Some of these billing increases have been astronomical and inexplicable. We have been working with the utilities, as well as with state officials, to try to get answers and assistance. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet received the answers or solutions we need. Consequently, we strongly believe there is no justification at all to approve NYSEG or RG&E rate increases and they should have already been rejected, immediately and outright, by Governor Hochul.

Fast forward to what’s transpired over the past year leading up to this year’s Election Day -- keeping in mind that Governor Hochul appoints the PSC commissioners and the PSC has approved every rate increase under her tenure.

A rarely used procedure allows the PSC to set a temporary rate, with the utility’s consent. In May 2026, the PSC did just that, authorizing relatively small increases, by PSC standards, of 3.7% and 4.0%, respectively, for NYSEG and RG&E. Without this temporary rate increase, the PSC would have had to reach a final determination, prior to Election Day, on the utilities’ requests, which were in excess of 30% and which would come on top of the last approved cumulative rate increases of nearly 30% phased in from 2023 to 2025.

In other words, were these temporary increases put in place simply to buy time while the governor has been running for reelection? It’s not an unreasonable or unfair suspicion, especially given the governor’s past history in this regard, which is not exactly reassuring.

Harken back to the months leading up to Election Day 2024, when a very controversial Congestion Pricing proposal to impose a new toll to drive into lower Manhattan was set to be imposed. This proposal was wildly unpopular among commuters from New York City’s outer boroughs, Long Island, and the lower Hudson Valley. Long Island and the Hudson Valley had many hotly contested Congressional elections in 2024. Consequently, Governor Hochul "paused" that controversial Congestion Pricing proposal prior to Election Day -- and lo and behold, she approved its implementation on November 14, just nine days afterwards.

This year’s election is even more directly impactful to the governor, because it's her own. Consequently, it’s worth noting that the HOT issue of the day is utility rates. And so it’s worth wondering and asking: How many days after this year's election will Governor Hochul, if she wins, have her Public Service Commission set the next, permanent 30% increase to our utility bills?

Oh, and let’s not forget there's another significant issue on voters’ minds that Hochul has put on hold: her moratorium on the siting of data centers. Will that also go by the wayside summarily after election day should she be reelected?

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Watch out ratepayers of New York.