How Do Con Edison Charges Stack Up?
If you live in New York City or Westchester, your electric utility is Con Edison. Although you may pay an ESCO for your energy, Con Edison delivers it. This company maintains equipment and charges you each month for the costs of delivering the energy you use, plus more to cover it. Consequently, many customers wonder how these delivery charges line up with other utilities. So, let’s find out how Con Edison charges compare with other major utility companies.
Comparing Con Edison Charges
Firstly, we’ll take a look at the numbers for Con Edison. Specifically, you can find under the delivery part of your bill that Con Edison charges a flat rate of $18.77 per month. But there’s more. On top of that, electric delivery also costs you 14.1 cents per kWh used for your first 250 kWh and 16.2 cents per kWh after that. In order to see if these charges are high or low, let’s compare them to four other major utilities in nearby areas.
| Company | Base Charge | Delivery rate per kWh |
| Con Edison | $18.77 | 14.1 cents up to 250 kWh; 16.2 cents over 250 kWh |
| AEP Ohio | $10 | 9.26 cents |
| PECO, Philadelphia | $10.52 | 8.73 cents |
| BGE, Baltimore | $7.50 | 3.82 cents |
| PSE&G, New Jersey | $4.95 | 6.12 cents up to 600 kWh; 6.53 cents over 600 kWh |
Looking at these numbers shows Con Edison delivery charges are quite high compared to companies in nearby states. So, let’s look into some possible reasons for this.
Explaining Con Edison’s High Rates
Initially, we can see that Con Edison covers a very small area. However, that area has a very large population. So, here are the numbers for our NY electric utility and the four utilities in surrounding areas.
| Company | Customers | Service Area |
| Con Edison | 3.6M | 604 sq miles |
| AEP Ohio, Columbus | 1.5M | 10,352 sq miles |
| PECO, Philadelphia | 1.6M | 2,100 sq miles |
| BGE, Baltimore | 1.2M | 2,300 sq miles |
| PSE&G New Jersey | 1.1M | 2,600 sq miles |
Firstly, we can see Con Edison has more customers by a pretty wide margin. Additionally, serving more customers leads to higher maintenance and operating costs which drives delivery rates up. And while covering a large area can lead to higher costs, Con Edison covers just 5% of the area as AEP Ohio. In this case, crowding the hardware for serving 3.6 million customers into such a small area increases Con Edison’s operating costs even more.
We can also take into account the number of employees for each company. After all, your delivery charges go towards paying those salaries. Con Edison once again tops that chart with over 14,000 employees. In fact, the only other company that comes close is PSE&G with over 12,000 workers. After that, the numbers go way down with BGE at 3,200 employees.
How New Yorkers Can Pay Lower Electric Rates
In conclusion, after comparing Con Edison with other major utility companies, it is clear that their delivery rates are high. But, that’s also common a lot of things in the NYC area. With so many people in a small area, the cost of living goes up. And although many find Con Edison delivery charges expensive, you do have options. Specifically, you have the power to choose a cheaper electric supply from an ESCO. So, by shopping cheap electric rates you can cut the total cost of your monthly bill, even with those expensive delivery costs. As a result, you can save more money on power.
For more information about electricity options and news in New York visit us at https://www.nyenergyratings.com.