Con Edison says one major reason New Yorkers face such steep electric bills is the company’s own substantial and “regressive” property-tax burden imposed by New York City.
The utility says property taxes represent roughly 21% of a customer’s total monthly bill. Con Edison paid $2.6 billion in property taxes last year, making it the city’s largest taxpayer.
When other state taxes and fees are factored in, the combined share of a customer’s bill rises to about 30%, according to company officials.
Con Edison’s property-tax payments surged 45% between 2019 and 2024.
A former state utility regulator described the property taxes imposed on New York City residents as excessive.
“The taxes paid by Con Ed customers are simply usury. It discriminates against lower-income and small-business customers,” said John Howard, a former chairman of the Public Service Commission.
“No other municipality in New York State pays such outrageous utility taxes. And the worst part is that they’re hidden in the bill,” he said.
Con Edison said customers deserve a clear explanation of how rising property taxes are affecting their utility bills.
“Our goal is to help customers understand how much of their bill is going to support other things — schools, police, fire, all the things that municipalities use their tax revenue for — and to really open a conversation about whether the utility bill is the right place to be raising those funds,” said Con Edison Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs Jen Hensley.
“Con Edison’s payment for New York City property taxes has increased 45% over the last five years,” she said. “That’s vastly outpacing inflation. It’s outpacing other parts of our bill.”
In January, the state Public Service Commission approved increases of 10.4% for Con Edison’s electric rates and 15.8% for gas rates over three years. The changes are expected to cost the average New York City resident roughly $600 more annually by 2028.
Under a settlement reached with the parties involved in the rate-setting case, including New York City, Con Edison was authorized to explain how property taxes affect customer bills.
Former Mayor Eric Adams did not object to the disclosure, and neither did Mayor Zohran Mamdani initially. Mamdani’s administration is now pushing back against the new explanation.
“If Con Edison wants to include the costs of city property taxes in bills, which all private properties pay to fund our city’s vital public services, it should also itemize its shareholder profits and other taxes,” City Hall spokesperson Jeremy Edwards told Politico.
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Edwards provided the same statement to The Post, adding, “New Yorkers already pay some of the highest energy costs in the nation, and they deserve transparency from their utility provider.”
“By misleading its customers about what’s really driving up their bills, Con Edison is adding insult to injury,” the spokesperson said.
City Hall also attempted to place responsibility for the higher property-tax burden on state officials.
The mayor’s office said the PSC’s approval of substantial increases in Con Edison’s annual capital spending contributed to a rise in the value of the company’s taxable real estate.
Much of Con Edison’s property — including poles, wires, transformers, pipes and other equipment installed in city streets — is assessed by New York State rather than the city.
Mamdani’s office said Con Edison’s property-tax bills rise each year because of increasing state assessments, not city tax rates, which have remained unchanged since 2017.
Con Ed said in a statement the pipes, wires, and equipment that make up its grid are taxed differently from regular commercial property and at a higher rate than utility peers.
In testimony on the state budget in February, Con Edison officials testified that the 21% share of customer bills is nearly double the 12% share at other utility companies.
“This disparity illustrates that Con Edison’s customers are uniquely exposed to elevated tax-driven charges that utilities in other regions simply do not face,” the company said in a statement. “As property taxes imposed on Con Edison flow directly and immediately into customer bills, any increase in these taxes results in higher costs for ratepayers.
“These charges are fixed components of delivery rates and customers have no ability to avoid or reduce them,” the statement went on. “Every additional tax assessment on Class 3 utility property is reflected in the bills paid by households, small businesses, and essential service providers.”
From 2019 to 2024, Con Ed’s operating expenses increased 27%, while its tax burden income increased by more than 36%, an independent study said.
As a result, the taxes have become a growing portion of the monthly bill charged to Con Ed customers.
A cap on annual property tax assessments on residential properties has shifted more of the tax burden on Con Ed.
“The slower market value appreciation of utility assets has resulted in utilities being the pressure valve in the New York City tax system by absorbing a greater share of excess annual property tax increases. Unfortunately, this regressive cap system may get worse in coming years,” the analysis by Paul Alexander said.
Con Edison has sought reforms in Albany that would reduce the tax burden on customers, including a state law to establish property tax exemptions and abatements for clean energy infrastructure investments.
