CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

ALBANY -- New York State Electric & Gas will start settlement negotiations next week with the state Public Service Commission in an attempt to reach an agreement on its proposed rate hikes.

NYSEG, which is based in Rochester but serves pockets of the Capital Region, filed its rate requests for gas and electric service with the PSC in September. Such cases typically take 11 months to be decided.
NYSEG customers would see their electric bills rise nearly 19 percent and their gas bills rise more than 17 percent. Rochester Gas & Electric, a sister utility that only serves the Rochester area, filed a similar rate hike request.

Often the PSC, the utility, and interested parties such as large industrial customers will seek to hammer out a settlement proposal, thereby avoiding a lengthy judicial process in which both sides present evidence to an administrative law judge.

The settlement discussions are scheduled to begin Thursday morning at the PSC's offices in downtown Albany.

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