Rates & Tariffs for NYSEG in New York State

The NYSEG pricing, rates & tariffs will add up to how much you pay on your bill. These charges evolve on a regular basis, and their value can be verified on the NYSEG official website, or on the website of the New York State Public Service Commission. Here we show these rates & tariffs, and make bill estimations for typical users.

NYSEG Rate Choices

On the NYSEG | Pricing and Rates page, NYSEG proposes a few different rates the customer can choose from.

Day-Night Service Rate

This rate is a type of Time-Of-Use rate (although they have also called "Time-of-Use" another rate for commercial customers, described below).

This rate should only be chosen if you consume at least 1,000 kWh of electricity per month. This typically is the case only if you have a house of 5 people or more. An average New York State home will consume a little more than half of this amount: 548 kWh/month. This is therefore not a typical rate to choose.

Also, it is only advantageous if you use at least 20% of your electricity at night, between 11:30 pm and 7 am​ (this represents 31% of 24 hours). Nevertheless, most of your electricity is used during the day and during dinner time, and not at night, therefore this number may be significantly lower than 31%. There is no data available for the typical hourly usage of electricity for households in the the state of New York (or even in the whole U.S.), therefore it is difficult to give you an estimate. You must calculate what is your hourly consumption during a whole day of typical electricity consumption, and you will find out if this rate is advantageous for you (if you use at least 1000 kWh of electricity per month).

In addition to this, you will also have to pay a higher fixed monthly delivery charge, since you need a more complex meter, with a clock to separate the kWh counted during the day and during the night.

Time-of-Use Rate

This rate may be interesting only if you use at least 35,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. This is equal to 2,900 kWh per month. This is more than 5 times the typical consumption of an average New Yorker, and 3 times the typical consumption of a 5-person house in New York State.

Typical Rates & Tariffs

Service Classification SC1

Each different type of customer (residential, commercial or industrial) will be assigned to a different type of service classification. Different types of usages will also help define the Service Classification (time of use plans for example). Most residential customers are put in the SC1 service classification. We have therefore used the SC1 rates & tariffs in this example to make typical bill estimations.

Bill Estimation per House Size

Your electricity consumption will depend on the size of your home, and the number of people living there. Here we have made estimations on your monthly usage for different home sizes, and estimated your monthly electricity bill.

Bill for a typical 548 kWh usage

Your bill will be approximately 83$/month with NYSEG, based on the New York State average electricity usage per month of 548 kWh.

Compared to other utilities in New York State, NYSEG is the rather cheap:

Detailed explanation of each charge

In the state of NY, the electricity usage in a typical household is approximately 548 kWh. Here is an detailed list of the rates & tariffs you will find in your NYSEG bill:

Distribution of rates & tariffs for delivery and supply

For the typical charges just described in the table above, here is a donut chart of the distribution of the utility rates and tariffs (for the delivery and supply portions of the bill).

Description of Rates

Rates / NYSEG charges: rates are fixed by the utility company, in this case NYSEG. You are billed by the utility company firstly for the delivery, secondly for the supply of electricity (if you haven't chosen an alternate retail energy supplier), and thirdly for related adjustment charges. These delivery and supply charges are divided between electric rates and gas rates.

Delivery Rates:

Delivery rates are the charges per kWh which pay for the routing of the electricity or gas from the source of the power generation to your premise.

Delivery rates

• Basic Service Charge: this charge is fixed each month, and is the same no matter how much electricity you consume each month. This pays for fixed maintenance costs, such as maintaining the grid, or sending a technician to read or repair your meter on a regular basis, for example.
• Delivery Service Charge: an amount which is charged to you in $/kWh, it is proportional to how much electricity you have used, like most other charges and state surcharges. This charge pays for delivering the electricity from the power plant to your premise.
• Billing charge: this charge pays for creating your bill, sending it to you, and processing your monthly payment.
• Revenue Decoupling Mechanism (RDM): NYSEG and most other New York State electricity & gas utilities make yearly previsions on the revenues from the delivery service. If the targets for these delivery revenues are reached, the extra is repaid to the customer, and if the targets are not reached, the default is paid by the customers. 

Supply Rates:

Supply rates are the charges per kWh which pay for the price of the actual electricity or gas you use in your home. These will change if you switch to an alternate supplier.

• Market Price Supply Charge: This is the only charge that pays for the purchase of the electricity itself, from the electricity production companies. It is the price at which the electricity is offered on the market.
• Merchant Function Charges (MFC): this is a charge for NYSEG's cost to procure the electricity (paying for the employees who buy the electricity at the best price for example). NYSEG will not bill you this charge either if you choose an alternate supplier.

For more information on the rates & tariffs that appear on your bill, and how to understand them, read our page Understanding your bill with NYSEG.

Description of Tariffs

Tariffs / State surcharges: state surcharges are state mandated. They are what the state charges you. The Public Service Commission (PSC) has utility tariffs for Electric, Gas, Water, and Telecommunication companies which have a professional activity in New York State. They include the sales tax and the gross revenue tax in applicable, as well as charges which pay programs such as energy efficiency, renewable energy incentives, and other funds.

• New York State Assessment (NYSA): also called the Temporary State Assessment Surcharge (TSAS), this is a state-mandated charge which pays for the requirements in Section 18-a of the Public Service Law: energy conservation and utility service conservation.
• System Benefits Charge (SBC): incentivizes energy efficiency.
• Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS): this tariff incentivizes renewable energy goals set by the state of New York.
• Transition surcharge (TS): this state surcharge exists to help the transition from a state regulated market to a liberalized market. It pays for making the electricity industry more competitive. It also includes other associated charges or credits.

More information on Tariffs / State Surcharges on the following page: New York State Surcharges.