Video Transcript: Village of Solvay ratepayers suffering extreme uptick in utility bill costs this February
Vic Maslia:
In a city known for its low and at times below-freezing temperatures, the idea of having reasonable utility costs is something that all central New Yorkers rely on. However, in the village of Solvay, recent utility bills have been anything but reasonable.
Glenn Santa:
The first month, it got a lot bigger, that was last month. And then this month it actually doubled, more than doubled, which was hard for me to understand since I didn’t use double the electricity.
Vic Maslia:
And when things get tough, a community usually looks to a leader, and for Solvay, that’s Mayor Derek Buy-Ai-key.
Mayor Derek Baichi:
Moving forward, if we see these rates are gonna start spiking, we’re gonna notify the community first. We’re not gonna wait for it to happen. We’re not gonna wait for the bills to come out. We gonna tell everyone, here’s what’s going on with the supplementary market. If it’s increasing or decreasing. As of today, it’s decreasing, which is great.
Vic Maslia:
From November of last year to this January, the total power bill in Solvay has grown almost $3 million dollars. Most residents are now having to pay double or even triple what they used to due to the new rates.
Carl Paulson:
That’s the New York ISO. I’ve called them. I’m waiting for a response. Next step is, I’m gonna send them a letter by the postal service and see if they, uh, respond to that. Who knows?
SOLVAY, N.Y. (NCC News) —Village of Solvay residents are no strangers to harsh winters, but they are not familiar with paying three times as much for their utility bills. In fact, the Village usually has lower utility rates than the surrounding areas because it has its own power company.
A key factor driving the rates higher is the per‑kilowatt‑hour charge, which has risen from 6 cents in previous months to more than 30 cents in February.
In total, the entire power bill for the Village was over four times as much this month than it was last November.
Unfortunately for residents, the Village of Solvay and its mayor, Derek Baichi, have no control over changing the utility rates. The New York State Electricity and Gas company along with the New York Independent System Operator, set the rates.
“Moving forward, if we see these rates are gonna start spiking, we’re gonna notify the community first,” Baichi said. “We’re not gonna wait for it to happen.”
Baichi did note, over the past week and a half, the utility bills have gone down. The rate per kilowatt dropped to 13 cents as of Wednesday which is four times less than what it was just last week.
Baichi stressed that the Village is there to help the community and that anyone in need of assistance can contact his office to set up a payment plan.