We have no doubt that the New York Power Authority has its reasons to increase hydropower rates charged to customers like the city of Jamestown.

But NYPA’s proposed 2025 to 2029 rate increase that would nearly triple rates charged to customers cannot be approved by the state Public Service Commission. Remember, this increase would come at the same time power costs are already increasing thanks to the state’s electrification of its electric grid, a cost homeowners and businesses see in their fuel adjustment charge on their power bills each month.

The New York Association of Public Power, is warning current rates for power are projected to increase from $12.88/megawatt hour to $33.05/megawatt hour in year four of the five-year NYPA rate increase before declining in the final year. The rate increase also includes a change in the rate-setting methodology that has been in place for decades and is contained in NYPA’s power supply contracts. It’s worth noting that David Leathers, Jamestown Board of Public Utilities general manager, is president of the New York Association of Public Power board, and has been working behind the scenes for months trying to mitigate the rate increase.

For a regular residential customer, this would mean an increase of $13 to $30 a month more for power. For customers like Electrovaya, Serta Mattress or Cummins, it’s a much bigger hit. And the hits will keep coming as the state works to electrify its power grid.

“The true fact is, if the state is moving in the direction to electrify everything, this is a thing of the past,” Leathers said. “If you’re going to have your electric vehicles and you’re going to charge your electric vehicles and you’re going to have electric heat and electric hot water, now you’re talking two, three, four thousand kilowatt hours a month, and that only makes that rate much, much higher.”

We noted a couple of months ago the importance of the BPU in keeping costs on customers affordable. By and large the utility has done so reliably for decades. But it’s incumbent on the state – through the Public Service Commission and providers like the New York Power Authority – to give affordability the same credence as it does to reliability and emissions.

What good is it for New York to have the cleanest power grid in the nation if people can’t afford to live in New York because power rates are too high?