CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

NYSEG says it wants to raise our electric rates by 18.6 percent. Here’s what the state Public Service Commission ought to say in response: Fergeddaboudit! Local business owners and other residents have to ask themselves when was the last time they got an

18.6 percent raise in their salaries. With those of us in upstate New York already struggling with some of the highest electrical rates in the country, the last thing we need is another punch to our financial solar plexus.

New York State Electric & Gas Corp., a subsidiary of Energy East (itself a subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola), petitioned the state Public Service Commission on Sept. 17 to raise electric rates 18.6 percent and natural gas rates 17.4 percent.

We can only hope that those ridiculous numbers constitute just an absurd attempt to obtain a single-digit increase when all is said and done.

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