NYSEG and RG&E will host a Community Connection Event this week for customers in the Cayuga County area.
The event will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, at Mentz Town Hall at 14 Sponable Drive in Port Byron.
Staff will be available to connect customers with resources, answer account questions and provide assistance in paying bills. There will not be a formal presentation by staff, so customers are encouraged to show up any time to meet with a staff member one-on-one. They will be helped on a first come, first served basis.
The event comes after a winter when customers encountered high bills from NYSEG and RG&E, which are both owned by Avangrid, a subsidiary of Spanish company Iberdrola. More than a dozen customers who spoke to ÓÐÁϺÐ×Ó described billing increases of 100% or more. The utility providers blamed the increases on energy supply costs and colder temperatures this winter.Â
In Cayuga County, the Legislature voted in April to ask the state to audit the providers' billing practices.
NYSEG and RG&E, meanwhile, said in a news release last week that overdue bills have grown significantly in recent years — totaling more than $200 million as of 2024 — due to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply costs. The cost of overdue bills falls to other customers, the providers said, adding that they do not profit from increases in supply costs.Â
Collection efforts and disconnections resumed after the end of winter, with the latter serving as a last resort after outreach to the customer, the companies said.
