Delivery half
Wires, poles, meters, customer service. Set by O&R and approved by the NY PSC in the 2025 multi-year rate plan.
- · Flat customer charge (monthly fixed fee);
- · Per-kWh delivery charge;
- · State and PSC surcharges;
- · Local taxes.
Supply half
The energy itself. Set by PSC-approved O&R auctions if you stay on default service, or by your contract if you switched to an ESCO.
- · Market supply charge in ¢/kWh;
- · Merchant function charge (procurement);
- · Sales tax on supply;
- · Can be replaced by an ESCO contract.
Service Classification 1 (SC-1): the default residential tariff
O&R groups customers by Service Classification, a category written into the tariff that determines how the bill is built. Residential customers default to SC-1. Commercial and industrial customers sit on higher-numbered classes (SC-2, SC-3 and so on). If you have signed up for a time-of-use plan, you may sit on a variant (SC-1 TOU) that charges different per-kWh prices in peak and off-peak hours.
What an SC-1 bill is made of
- A Customer charge. Flat monthly fee. Same whether you used 0 kWh or 2,000 kWh.
- B Delivery charge. Per-kWh fee for transporting the electricity from the grid to your meter.
- C State surcharges. System Benefits Charge, Renewable Portfolio Standard, Temporary State Assessment.
- D Supply charge. Per-kWh price of the electricity itself (default O&R supply or ESCO contract rate).
- E Merchant function charge. Charge for the cost of procuring the energy. Removed if you switched to an ESCO.
- F Sales tax. New York sales tax applied separately to the delivery total and the supply total.
The current SC-1 rate values appear on the O&R bill itself and on the tariff page filed with the NY PSC. Per-kWh figures shift through the rate-case cycle, so this page does not quote a specific cent figure: instead, the categories above and the bill walkthrough on Understanding your bill tell you what to look for on your own statement.
The 2025 NY PSC rate case, in plain English
In 2025 the NY PSC approved O&R\'s multi-year electric and gas delivery rate plan. That order set how much O&R can charge through 2027 to maintain poles, wires, substations and gas mains, and to fund grid hardening against the storms that increasingly hit the lower Hudson Valley. Like every recent NY rate case, the increases were phased in over multiple rate years rather than landing in a single jump.
What the rate case covers, what it does not
Covered (delivery)
- · Distribution and transmission per-kWh charges;
- · Customer charge (the flat monthly fee);
- · Grid modernization and storm hardening riders;
- · Energy efficiency and electrification programs.
Not covered (supply)
- · The kWh price for default service;
- · The price you pay an ESCO if you have switched;
- · NYISO wholesale capacity and energy prices;
- · Pass-through riders such as system benefits.
Bottom line for households: the supply half of your bill moves on its own schedule, set by PSC-approved auctions or by your chosen ESCO contract. The delivery half is governed by the 2025 rate plan and steps up on the rate-year anniversary. If your bill jumped, check whether it was the supply line, the delivery line, or both; they will be listed separately.
Delivery charges line by line
Delivery is what O&R bills you for getting energy from the bulk transmission system to your meter. The PSC reviews each line of the delivery section in the rate case; O&R cannot change a delivery charge unilaterally between rate cases.
Basic service charge (customer charge)
Flat monthly fee. Funds meter reading, billing, customer service and the fixed costs of keeping you connected. Does not change with usage.
Delivery service charge
Billed in ¢/kWh. Pays for the distribution lines, transformers and substations that move electricity from the high-voltage grid to your home. Step rates may apply (first 250 kWh, next 250 kWh and so on); the residential pattern is for the per-kWh rate to ease at higher usage tiers.
Billing charge
Covers the cost of producing the bill and processing payments.
Revenue Decoupling Mechanism (RDM)
A small reconciliation line. O&R sets a target for delivery revenues each year; if it over-collects, the surplus is refunded to customers, and if it under-collects, the shortfall is recovered. The mechanism removes O&R\'s financial incentive to push more usage and lets energy efficiency programs work without hurting the utility\'s books.
Energy cost adjustment
Adjusts for the difference between what O&R paid for legacy energy supply contracts (long-term agreements with IPPs) and what those contracts ended up costing. Can be a charge or a credit.
State surcharges (the line items the state requires)
These are charges O&R collects on behalf of the state of New York. They fund programs the legislature wants the energy system to deliver, and they appear on every NY electric bill, not only O&R\'s. The amounts shift each year as the PSC approves new budgets.
SBC
System Benefits Charge
Funds energy efficiency programs, education, research, and low-income energy assistance.
RPS
Renewable Portfolio Standard
Pays for New York\'s renewable energy goals: solar, wind and hydro procurement targets.
TSAS / NYSA
Temporary State Assessment
Funds the operating costs of the NY PSC and related state agencies under Section 18-a of the Public Service Law.
Competitive transition
Transition charge for competitive services
A legacy line from the 1998 retail-choice transition. Helps fund the transition from a fully regulated market to one where ESCOs compete for the supply half.
A full breakdown of NY state surcharges, applicable to every utility, is on the NY state surcharges page.
Supply charges (the only half a switch can change)
Supply charges pay for the electricity itself. If you stay on O&R default service, the price is set by PSC-approved auctions and resets on a rolling schedule. If you switched to an ESCO, the price is whatever your contract specifies, either fixed for a term or variable.
Market supply charge
The actual price of the electricity per kWh, as procured by O&R from the wholesale market via the NYISO auctions. On an ESCO bill, this line is the ESCO\'s contract rate.
Merchant function charge (MFC)
O&R\'s cost of procuring the electricity (the staff and systems that run the auction process). Removed if you switch to an ESCO; the ESCO\'s comparable cost is baked into its quoted rate.
Merchant supply charge adjustment
A small true-up line for differences between forecast and actual supply costs. Also removed for ESCO customers.
Heads-up: ESCO comparison
When shopping ESCOs, you cannot directly compare a contract\'s ¢/kWh to O&R\'s default rate without adding back the merchant function charge. The default service number on the bill is "supply only"; the ESCO offer typically includes the supplier\'s margin. Use the NY PSC Power to Choose tool to compare apples to apples.
Why O&R rates differ from ConEd rates (despite same parent)
Orange & Rockland and Con Edison of New York are both subsidiaries of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED). At the holding-company level, they share capital structure and several corporate functions. At the customer level, they are two separate utilities:
- Each files its own multi-year rate case with the NY PSC;
- Each has its own tariff book with its own SC-1 numbers;
- Each has its own service territory: ConEd covers NYC and Westchester, O&R covers the lower Hudson Valley west of the river (Rockland, Orange, Sullivan);
- Each procures default supply through its own PSC-approved auctions.
The end result: an O&R customer in Spring Valley and a ConEd customer in the Bronx will see different per-kWh delivery charges, different customer charges, and different default supply rates. Same parent on Wall Street; different rate sheet on the kitchen counter.
Where to read the actual cent-per-kWh numbers
Tariff values move during the rate-case cycle. Rather than quote a number that will be stale within months, the safest sources are:
- Your last O&R bill. Every charge is itemised on page 1 with its current ¢/kWh value;
- The O&R website at oru.com (Rates and Tariffs section);
- The NY PSC docket for the 2025 O&R rate case at the Department of Public Service search portal;
- NY PSC Power to Choose for the current default supply rate;
- The EIA for the NY state residential average (a benchmark for comparing your bundled rate against the wider market).
The annotated sample bill shows where each line lives on the page; the understanding your bill page walks through the same numbers in narrative form.
Frequently asked questions
Service Classification 1 (SC-1) is the default residential electric tariff at Orange & Rockland. If you live in a single-family home, an apartment with its own meter, or any standard residential dwelling on the O&R New York grid, you are on SC-1 unless you actively switched to a time-of-use plan. The tariff combines a flat monthly customer charge, a per-kWh delivery charge, and the supply price (either O&R default supply or your ESCO).
In 2025 the NY PSC approved O&R's multi-year electric and gas delivery rate plan. The order lifted distribution charges and added riders for grid modernization and storm hardening across multiple rate years, with the second rate-year step-up landing in 2026. The supply half of your bill moves on a separate cadence through PSC-approved auctions or through your ESCO contract, so the two lines do not change together.
No. Same parent, different tariffs. Orange & Rockland and Con Edison of New York are both subsidiaries of Consolidated Edison, Inc., but each files its own rate case and runs its own service territory. O&R's SC-1 delivery rate is calculated for the lower Hudson Valley grid and its ~233,000 NY customers; ConEd's SC-1 is calculated for New York City and Westchester. The numbers move independently.
Shop the supply half. You can stay on O&R's default service (procured through PSC-approved auctions, resets on a rolling schedule) or switch to any ESCO licensed by the NY PSC. The April 2026 PSC ESCO settlement requires residential ESCO offers to either beat a benchmark price or be a guaranteed-renewable product. Compare offers against the current default rate on the NY PSC Power to Choose tool.
A kWh is one kilowatt of power used for one hour. A standard incandescent 100-watt bulb left on for 10 hours uses 1 kWh. On the O&R bill, your usage line is the difference between two meter readings (the previous and the current). Both readings are absolute counters; the subtraction is what you pay for, not the larger number.
State-mandated tariffs on a NY utility bill fund programs the legislature wants the energy system to deliver. The System Benefits Charge (SBC) pays for energy efficiency and low-income assistance. The Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) funds renewable goals. The Temporary State Assessment covers PSC operating costs. They are line items on every NY electric bill, not unique to O&R; O&R simply collects them on the state's behalf and remits.
No. The customer charge (also called the basic service charge) is a flat monthly fee set in the O&R rate case. You pay it whether you used 50 kWh or 1,500 kWh that month. It covers fixed costs like meter reading, billing, and customer service. For low-usage households, the customer charge is the largest line on the bill and chasing supply discounts barely moves the total.
Need to talk to O&R about a charge?
Residential customer service handles tariff questions and rate-case-related billing concerns.
1-877-434-4100 , Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET
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