CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

More than 60,000 utility customers in the Albany, New York, area will soon see larger bills following a vote by the state Public Service Commission on Thursday.

The commission approved a plan by New York State Electric & Gas Corp., or NYSEG, to increase electric and gas delivery rates. The increases will take effect Sept. 25.

Under the plan, NYSEG will boost electric delivery rates by 2.5 percent in the first year (September 2010 through September 2011). Rates will rise an additional 4.2 percent in the second year, and by 4.3 percent in the third year.

In all, the rate increases will bring in an extra $104.2 million for NYSEG, which has roughly 63,000 Capital Region customers and 1.7 million customers in all of upstate.

(Click to read the entire article)