Roosevelt Island Manhattan Park Residents Object To "Absurdly Expensive Electricity Bill" - Building Management Says Past Bills Were For Cost Of Electricity Delivery Only, Did Not Include Actual Usage, Current Bill Makes Up For The 5 Month Billing Delay

A Roosevelt Island Manhattan Park building complex resident reported recently: 

Manhattan Park tenants; have you received an absurdly expensive electricity bill this month, and have you agreed to pay for it? I'm tired of this sh*t.

I asked Manhattan Park management:

I have heard from several Manhattan Park residents very upset over what they describe as very high electricity bills recently received from Manhattan Park. 

According to these residents, Manhattan Park failed to send electricity bills for several months last year and are now billing for those months. Is that true? 

Some Manhattan Park residents question the accuracy of their electric bills as well. Are there other reasons for the recent high electric bills for Manhattan Park residents that are different from tenants in the rest of NYC? 

Also, residents have asked if the Holiday Lights in the Park area are included in the residents electric bill?

 A Manhattan Park management spokesperson answered:

The situation regarding the electricity billing for residents at Manhattan Park was the result of a delay in receiving invoices from the energy service company (ESCO) that provides electricity supply. The ESCO was recently contracted by ownership to provide less expensive electricity to the residents than would otherwise be charged by Con Edison. Con Edison continues to deliver the electricity to the residents.

The delay in receiving invoices resulted in the residents being undercharged for their electricity usage for the months of July – November 2021 as they were only charged for the cost of delivery and not for the actual supply of electricity. The revised billing reflects charges for actual usage so the residents are only being charged for the electricity that was actually being consumed by the residents in their individual units. To help alleviate any financial burdens or inconveniences for the residents, we negotiated a 10% discount for such electricity charges during those five months. In addition to the discount, we have offered residents payment plans so that these charges can be paid over the course of one year. It should be noted that the electricity billings at Manhattan Park only include actual costs for the supply and delivery of electricity and do not include any markup or profit. The ESCO has resolved their invoicing issues so we do not anticipate any further delays.

Manhattan Park management sent this April 25 letter to residents explaining their electricity bills

Dear Resident:

We are writing to you about your electricity bills at Manhattan Park. As you may be aware, the electricity bills that you receive each month are comprised of two separate charges: (1) the cost for the delivery of electricity; and (2) the cost of the electricity itself, or supply. Con Edison of New York (“Con Ed”) has always supplied and delivered the electricity to the residents of Manhattan Park.

In an effort to seek ways to reduce electricity costs, Management engaged with energy consultant Integrated Energy Partners Inc. to see if there were other energy companies that could supply electricity on a more cost-effective basis than Con Ed. After reviewing supply proposals with the consultant over several months, Management entered into a new agreement in June of 2021 with ENGIE Power & Gas LLC (“ENGIE”), an energy-service company approved by the NYS Public Service Commission, to supply electricity to Manhattan Park. Con Ed, however, remained as the company physically delivering the electricity to the site. Both ENGIE and Con Ed were to provide separate bills to Management for their respective services, ENGIE for electricity supply and Con Ed for electricity delivery. In turn, Quadlogic Controls Corporation (“Quadlogic”), the independent third-party submetering consultant, would utilize these bills to calculate the charges to bill the residents only for their portion of electricity usage.

Unfortunately, due to an administrative error at the start of the ENGIE agreement that was further magnified by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the first five months of ENGIE’s electricity invoices for the supply portion of the charges (covering the period of July-November 2021) were not received by Management. As a result, all electricity bills for the months of July-November only included the delivery charges applicable to electric usage but did not include charges for the actual electricity itself. Notwithstanding the delayed billing, these amounts are due and owing under your lease and will need to be paid by the residents. Your apartment’s outstanding electricity supply charges for the five-month period in question will be shown as a separate line-item in your next billing statement from Quadlogic.

We recognize that this could create a financial burden on residents, so we have formulated a plan to assist. Please note the following:

1. Management was able to negotiate a 10% reduction from ENGIE for the outstanding charges. This discount will in turn be passed onto the tenants in full as part of the retroactive billing. To reiterate, residents will only be charged for the electricity that was supplied and used (but not yet billed for) during this five-month period.
2. Management is willing to offer all residents a payment plan of up to 12 months (depending on the remaining term of your lease) to repay the outstanding amounts. If your household needs additional time to re-pay the outstanding ENGIE supply charges, please contact the management office at (212) 759-8660 at your earliest convenience to discuss the possibility of a longer repayment period tailored to your household’s financial circumstances.

We apologize for this inconvenience and would like to reassure you that we have taken steps to make sure that billing issues like this will not happen again. Please feel free to reach out to the management office if you have any other questions or concerns regarding this matter. 

Sincerely, 

GRC Management LLC 

On behalf of Roosevelt Island Associates 

The Manhattan Park spokesperson adds:

The Holiday Lights in the park area are not included in the residents electric bill.

CBS New York reports on huge increases in Con Ed electricity bills for NYC residents.