NYSEG, RG&E seek to alter program

Each fall, hundreds of thousands of upstate New York households are given a choice in who provides their energy and whether to buy the energy at a fixed or fluctuating rate.

That may come to an end as New York State Electric & Gas Corp. and Rochester Gas & Electric Corp. seek state approval to fundamentally rework the Voice Your Choice program.

In a petition before the state Public Service Commission, NYSEG and RG&E say they want to quit offering fixed-rate options for energy after this year and to replace the five-year-old Voice Your Choice program with an ongoing open enrollment period.

Customers would either pay the utility company a variable rate or choose to go with an independent energy services company, which might still offer a fixed rate. Variable rates reflect the fluctuating wholesale price of electricity.

More than 189,000 RG&E and NYSEG customers are signed up for the utilities' fixed-price option, even though figures provided by RG&E this week show that the variable rate has proved more economical over the past four years. Some consumers prefer fixed rates because it makes their monthly bills more predictable.

Voice Your Choice and the fixed-price option always were intended to be part of the transition as New York switched to a competitive electricity supply market, said Robert Bergin, public affairs director for the two Rochester-based utilities. There are 57 different energy supply companies working as energy brokers in the RG&E and NYSEG service area, he said.

For the utilities, getting out of a fixed-price option could be a financial boon, according to the Retail Energy Supply Association, a trade group, as the recent swings of commodity prices create business risks for companies offering fixed rates.

The proposed changes to the Voice Your Choice program still need state approval. PSC spokesman James Denn couldn't say when the commission might act on the filing.

Separately, RG&E and NYSEG received state approval in May to make adjustments to utility bills this year. The adjustments involve fees known as non-bypassable charges - NBCs in industry lingo - that help utilities deal with the difference between the market price of electricity and the price in the companies' long-term supply contracts.