WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. September 5, 2008:  Con Edision has raised the price of electrictiy 65% in eight months. The Consolidated Edison charge per kilowatt hour has hit an all time high in August, rising 21% to 25.4 cents per kilowatt hour for Supply and Delivery charges combined on the typical Westchester bill.

The 25.4 cents is rapidly approaching the 28 cents predicted by the Con Edison media relations department to WPCNR, back in June. August cost  of 25.4 cents  is up from 21 cents a kilowatt hour in July and 19.45 cents in June.

Con Edison told WPCNR last month they had been able to keep the price down in July due to the efforts of their energy buyers, but apparently the runup in oil this summer has taken its toll, Con Edision includes this explanation in the current electric bill for August:

"You've heard about rising energy costs. Sharp increases in the cost of oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuels have driven up the cost of producing the electricity that Con Edison buys for you and delivers to your home." Con Edison's flyer predicts summer 2008 (June-September) bills to be approximately 22% higher than summer 2007.

However, in 8 months, the Con Edison has raised the cost of electricity to Westchester consumers from 15.4 cents per kilowatt hour to 25.4 cents -- a 65% increase -- substantially higher than the cost runup of oil the last eight weeks.

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