China News Service, February 17. According to the US "World Journal" report, in the face of the recent rapidly soaring electricity and gas bills in New York City, the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSDPS) received a statement from members of Congress including Meng Zhaowen. The letter said it had sent a letter to Con Edison, the company that supplies electricity to New York residents, asking them to provide detailed billing methods.
The joint letter signed by Meng Zhaowen and other lawmakers said that many people's electricity bills rose sharply last month. A tenant in Brooklyn's Greenpoint (Greenpoint) rose from $300 in December to $850 in January, and many queens District residents also reported that electricity bills have risen by 300%. These are not isolated cases. Many voters expressed their concerns to local public opinion representatives about whether they could still afford the soaring electricity bills, and asked the State Public Service Commission to thoroughly examine the billing.
Meng Zhaowen also said on the 15th that many New York residents are still trapped in the new crown pneumonia epidemic and should not even be unable to afford electricity and gas bills.
After receiving the joint letter, Rory Christian, chairman of the State Public Service Commission, said that he deeply understands that electricity and gas bills in winter have brought economic burdens to the public, although the State Public Service Commission and power companies cannot control (natural gas). ) supply price, but in order to avoid drastic price fluctuations in the future, Edison Power Company has been asked to provide procurement plans and detailed billing methods, and to help them improve.
The person in charge of Edison explained that the price increase is also a last resort, the cost of power generation is rising rapidly, the price of natural gas commodities is also rising sharply, the extreme disaster weather in New York State has increased, and people's demand for heating and economic activities have increased. Household gas and electricity bills have skyrocketed.
Households using 300 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month saw their average electricity bill rise from $22.8 in December to $61 in January, according to estimates by Edison, which also applied to New York state. , said it expects to increase household electricity bills by another 11.2% and household gas bills by 18.2% in 2023 due to the need to upgrade systems and invest in more renewable energy.
(Zheng Yiyan)