CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

New York State Electric & Gas Corp. is slashing the size of the rate increase it is seeking from its electric customers by more than 40 percent, the utility said Thursday.

NYSEG, which last September requested a rate hike that would have boosted a typical residential customer’s electric bill by a total of almost 19 percent, or $12.39 per month, said it is reducing that proposed increase to $6.70 per month.

Exactly how big of a rate increase customers will end up paying will be decided by the State Public Service Commission late this summer. NYSEG provides service to about 175,000 customers in suburban and rural portions of Western New York.

The commission’s staff is recommending that NYSEG’s electric rates be reduced by $18.4 million, although other factors that affect bills would still result in a typical residential customer’s electric bill rising by 3.3 percent, or $2.18 per month.

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