New Yorkers are now footing Con Eds property tax bill thanks to NYCs dysfunctional system

Consolidated Edison customers are about to get some shocking news about their electricity service: A huge part of their bill, 21% of the delivery charge for the average customer, is paying ConEd’s property taxes. And Mayor Mamdani doesn’t want you to know that. The city’s unique and highly dysfunctional property-tax system has for decades allowed mayors and the City Council to shift taxes onto its utility systems, Con Ed being the biggest. Con Ed’s property tax bill for its electric system jumped from $1 billion in 2015 to more than $2.1 billion last year, all with Albany’s blessing. No other major city comes close to Gotham in cramming such a big property-tax burden into consumers’ utility bills. The taxable value of Con Ed’s system has exploded for reasons ranging from rising component costs — the basis for much of the tax calculation — to the state’s 2019 climate law, which required Con Edison to upgrade its grid (driving up its tax liability). But in many respects, the property values were little more than numbers. What matters is that the city chose, year after year, to keep squeezing more money out of that system knowing full well that ratepayers would end up paying the bill. It’s another tax hike on New Yorkers, hidden in your electricity bill. Today the property tax alone adds roughly 5.4 cents per kilowatt-hour to customer bills in the five boroughs, a Manhattan Institute analysis found.That’s about $15 per month tacked on to a typical apartment’s electric bill, and more than $32 for a single-family house.  Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.

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It’s a big part of why residential electric rates are higher in New York City than in any other major city in the eastern United States.That tax is also far bigger than the other, smaller taxes di...