Staff Reports
New York City residents are about to see a little more truth on their electric bills — and a lot more political squirming. A new Manhattan Institute report exposes how city tax rules have quietly padded Con Edison delivery charges for years. Now Con Edison will begin itemizing the city property‑tax portion of bills by early 2027, and City Hall is already waving a fist at the company for daring to be honest.
Manhattan Institute brief and Con Edison’s bill itemization
The Manhattan Institute released an issue brief showing how New York City’s tax rules effectively tack on an extra 36%–41% to delivery charges for residential electricity. The brief ties the jump to three things: Con Edison’s skyrocketing property‑tax assessments on its electric equipment, the city’s gross‑receipts tax on utilities, and the regular city sales tax on delivery. As a result, the Institute says residents pay roughly $22 a month more for a typical apartment and about $47 a month more for a single‑family house.
Why this matters: how the pass‑through works
Here’s the mechanic: local property taxes and utility levies are treated as a cost of delivery, and the state Public Service Commission lets the utility pass those costs straight to ratepayers through delivery rates. So instead of voters deciding to pay higher city taxes at the ballot box, City Hall can raise money by re‑labeling it as part of your electric bill. Con Edison’s electric‑facilities property tax jumped from about $1.0 billion in 2015 to roughly $2.1 billion in 2025 by the Manhattan Institute’s count — other tallies put a somewhat higher figure depending on which assets you include — and consumers have been left holding the meter.
Politics, posturing, and easy fixes Albany should make
Con Edison says it will show customers how much of their bill goes to city property taxes; the company’s spokeswoman framed it as plain transparency. City Hall, led by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office, fired back saying the utility should also itemize profits and other taxes — which is funny in a way, because the real issue is not what Con Edison shows, it’s why City Hall treats the electric grid like a piggy bank. The Manhattan Institute recommends clear itemization, exempting distribution equipment from the city property tax, or forcing any savings back to ratepayers. Those are sensible, practical fixes Albany can and should shepherd — if lawmakers stop pretending budgets can balance themselves.
Bottom line: New Yorkers deserve to see what they’re paying for and to have the chance to hold officials accountable for raising revenue. Itemized bills arriving by early 2027 will pull back the curtain. If Albany and City Hall want to keep treating electric bills as a revenue stream, they should at least do it openly — but they’d be wiser to stop the game altogether and let voters decide taxes the old fashioned way. Until then, expect more heat on your meter than on City Hall’s budget spreadsheets.
