New York electric utilities, compared on what actually matters
Which utility is on your bill decides more about your solar project than your roof does. It sets the value of every kWh you offset, the floor your bill cannot drop below, a monthly charge tied to how big your array is, and how long you wait to be switched on.
Read this table left to right, not top to bottom
A higher all-in rate is not a worse deal for a solar owner — it is a better one, because every offset kWh is worth more. Con Edison customers pay the most for power in the state and get the shortest solar payback in the state, on identical hardware. Municipal customers pay the least and get the longest.
The Customer Benefit Contribution runs the other way: it is charged per kilowatt of installed DC capacity every month, whether or not those kilowatts help you. On O&R territory at $1.29 per kW-DC per month, every unnecessary kilowatt costs you about $15 a year forever.
Side by side
All New York residential utilities
| Utility | All-in $/kWh | Fixed / month | CBC per kW-DC | Interconnection | Places |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal utility | $0.08–$0.16 | $10 | n/a | varies | 20 |
| RG&E | $0.17–$0.24 | $25 | $1.16/mo | 5–13 wks | 13 |
| NYSEG | $0.17–$0.25 | $20 | $1.12/mo | 5–14 wks | 18 |
| National Grid | $0.19–$0.26 | $21 | $0.69/mo | 4–12 wks | 60 |
| PSEG-LI | $0.22–$0.29 | $17 | n/a | 4–12 wks | 3 |
| Central Hudson | $0.22–$0.30 | $25 | $0.86/mo | varies | 5 |
| O&R | $0.24–$0.32 | $24 | $1.29/mo | varies | 3 |
| Con Edison | $0.31–$0.40 | $22 | $1.09/mo | 10–30 wks | 4 |
The one that catches people
47 municipal electric systems, playing by their own rules
New York has 47 municipal electric systems — village and city departments that buy low-cost hydropower from the New York Power Authority and distribute it themselves. In Western New York alone that includes Jamestown, Fredonia, Westfield, Mayville, Silver Creek, Springville, Arcade, Akron, Salamanca, Wellsville, Andover, Angelica, Holley, and Churchville.
If your bill comes from one of them: NY-Sun incentives generally do not apply to you, the state net-metering statute does not bind your utility, and your rate is probably half of what the investor-owned utility charges a few miles away. All three change the math, and installers working across a region routinely miss the boundary.
Browse
Every utility
- National Grid (Niagara Mohawk)The largest upstate footprint: Buffalo and most of Erie County, Niagara County outside the municipals, Syracuse and Central New York, the Mohawk Valley, the Capital Region, and the North Country.
- New York State Electric & GasA patchwork covering roughly 40% of upstate New York's land area but a much smaller share of its people: the Southern Tier, parts of the Finger Lakes, Lockport and eastern Niagara County, Auburn, Ithaca, Binghamton, Elmira, Oneonta, Plattsburgh, and pockets in the lower Hudson Valley.
- Rochester Gas and ElectricMonroe County and a nine-county ring around Rochester.
- Central Hudson Gas & ElectricThe mid-Hudson Valley: Dutchess, Ulster, Columbia, Greene, and parts of Orange, Putnam, Sullivan, and Albany counties.
- Consolidated EdisonNew York City (all five boroughs) and Westchester County.
- Orange & Rockland UtilitiesRockland County, most of Orange County, and part of Sullivan County.
- PSEG Long IslandNassau County, Suffolk County, and the Rockaways.
- Municipal Electric SystemsNew York has 47 municipal electric systems — village and city departments that buy low-cost hydropower from the New York Power Authority and distribute it themselves.
How this page is built
This is a generated page: the structure is shared across locations, the numbers are not. Every figure comes from the source cited beside it, with the date we last checked it. Nothing here is a quote, an appraisal, or tax advice, and none of it is specific to your roof.
Rates and incentive programs change. We re-verify utility tariffs and NYSERDA program status on a rolling schedule and stamp the date on each number rather than on the page, so you can see which specific figures are fresh. Full methodology · Program status tracker · About the Local Energy Playbook
Page content last reviewed April 2026.