AARP: Analysis Proves Long Islanders Can't Afford PSEG Rate Hike

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- AARP says it has the proof that PSEG Long Island's proposed electric rate hike is too high.

In a detailed analysis, AARP accuses the utility of trying to shift certain expenses to ratepayers, many of whom, they claim, cannot afford it, WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs reported.

AARP released the report at a rally Tuesday outside Long Island Power Authority headquarters in Uniondale. Demonstrators held signs that read "too high, too much."

"They want to increase it by 48 percent the first year and double digit increases the next few years," said Richard Berkley with Public Utility Law Project of New York.

But a spokesperson for PSEG-LIPA says this group is misrepresenting the rate hike, saying that overall it's less than two percent for the next three years, WLNY's Richard Rose reports.

PSEG has called its three-year, $374 million rate hike proposal modest and necessary.

"We worked really hard to get to a modest increase to allow for us to make the improvements that are necessary," PSEG spokesman Jeffrey Weir said. "It's $2.85 a month for 2016, $2.85 a month for 2017 and $3.10 a month for 2018 -- and that's going to allow us to make vital improvements."

The extra revenue would help enhance tree trimming and line inspections and increase customer satisfaction overall, utility officials say.

But Beth Finkel, state director for AARP in New York, called the proposal "outrageous."

"They think 12 percent is modest when you're already paying the third-highest cost in the country?" she said. "I mean, come on. And this goes exactly back to our point that nobody's really taken the considerations of the consumer in mind here."

AARP says half its members report they're worried any rate increase will break their tight budgets. Especially those living on fixed incomes.

"They're going to have to choose between food, between their electric rates and to choose between their medications," said Joan McCarty with AARP Long Island.

LIPA's electric rates are among the highest in the nation. Many customers have long complained about sticker shock when they open their bills, Rose reports.

"I think it stinks," said Sherri Wine of Commack. "I'm a homeowner, middle class, but they're going to put me out of Long Island."

The request is still working its way through the approval process.