How the monthly supply price gets set
Three pieces stack on the supply side of your bill:
- 1.Market price charge. The actual cents-per-kWh National Grid pays the wholesale market for your zone, reset every month and proportional to your usage.
- 2.Merchant Function Charge. A small fee for National Grid's procurement cost. It disappears if you switch to an ESCO.
- 3.Electricity Supply Reconciliation Mechanism (ESRM). A smoothing line: in unusually cold months National Grid can spread part of the wholesale spike across later months. Some bills show ESRM as a negative line item.
All three numbers are published on National Grid's monthly Electric Supply Charge filings with the NY PSC. Look for the "ESC" filing on the most recent rate schedule.
The 6 National Grid upstate zones
National Grid does not bill all of upstate at one supply rate. The same upstate footprint splits into six zones that each clear at a slightly different monthly price.
| National Grid zone | Region label | Major cities covered |
|---|---|---|
| A – West | Frontier | Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Olean, Angola, Lakewood, Dunkirk |
| B – Genesee | Genesee | Batavia, Brockport, Medina, Albion |
| C – Central | Central | Syracuse, Fulton, Oswego, Pulaski, Cortland |
| D – North | Adirondack | Lake Placid, Malone, Saranac Lake |
| E – Mohawk Valley | Utica | Utica, Rome, Herkimer, Oneida, Watertown, Lowville, Potsdam, Ogdensburg |
| F – Capital | Capital | Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Hudson, Saratoga, Glens Falls, Ticonderoga |
Source: National Grid PSC tariff filings.
How the supply charge has moved, 2024 to 2026
The Electricity Supply Charge moves with NYISO wholesale prices, so the same drivers that pushed national power prices higher in 2024 to 2025 showed up on National Grid upstate bills. Three structural trends matter:
- ·Winter spikes are bigger than summer ones upstate. Cold-weather electric heating + restricted gas-fired generation push January and February clearing prices well above June.
- ·Zone J (NYC) and Zone A (Buffalo) gap remains wide. Even in months of national price moderation, upstate zones consistently clear several cents below NYC.
- ·The March 2026 NY residential average sat at 28.55 ¢/kWh (EIA). Upstate National Grid bills run structurally below that average because the supply line is closer to Zone A/B clearing prices, not the statewide blend.
For the current-month figure, check the latest "Electric Supply Charge" filing on the National Grid Upstate tariff page or the PSC document portal.
How to use this rate when comparing ESCOs
When an ESCO pitches you a fixed-rate offer, compare it against the sum of (a) National Grid's current Electricity Supply Charge plus (b) the Merchant Function Charge. That total is the apples-to-apples default-supply benchmark.
Watch three traps:
- ·A fixed offer at 9.5 ¢/kWh with a $9.95 monthly fee costs more than the default if you use under 1,000 kWh per month.
- ·Variable rates that follow an "index plus" formula are often above default once you net out the introductory teaser.
- ·Always multiply by your annual kWh from a real bill, not by the ESCO's example usage.
Frequently asked questions
Because National Grid procures default-service energy monthly on the NYISO wholesale market. The cleared price flows straight to your bill the following month.
Yes. Switch to a ESCO for the supply line. National Grid no longer procures the energy, so the Merchant Function Charge drops off.
Electricity Supply Reconciliation Mechanism. PSC-approved smoothing: in cold months part of the wholesale spike is deferred and paid back in later months. You may see ESRM as a positive or negative line.
National Grid posts the monthly Electric Supply Charge on its tariff page and files it with the NY PSC. The PSC document portal at documents.dps.ny.gov archives every filing.
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