LAKE PLACID — Consumers could still face high energy bills this winter due to weather and other factors, but the New York Power Authority will not be raising its rates over the winter. Negotiations are ongoing at the state level for future rate increases.

Village treasurer Mindy Goddeau attended an annual conference with the Municipal Electric Utilities Association of New York last week. Based on information reported at the conference, she said any rate increase on the part of the NYPA would not take effect until the spring, and the renewed contract will need to be signed by each participating municipality.

This comes after an initial rate increase proposed by the NYPA earlier this year, which would have increased the cost from around $13 to $33 per megawatt hour over four years. This would have increased some electric rates by 250%. However, there was a public outcry, including from Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“Today, I’m calling for an end to the power authority’s unacceptable proposal to raise electric rates on its customers statewide,” Hochul said in a statement in February. “Too many New Yorkers are already falling behind on their energy bills and I will do everything in my power to reign in these astronomical costs.”

The governor insisted NYPA go back to the drawing board, and it has. There may still be a rate increase, but it appears the increase will be less dramatic, Goddeau said. The NYPA hasn’t had a rate increase in a very long time, part of the reason it will need to increase the rates is to fund significant upgrades to its facilities.

“Hydropower is no different than a regular municipality,” she said. “If they have to do upgrades to their facilities, they need more money to do that. It doesn’t just generate out of thin air.”

This does not rule out the possibility of another expensive winter, however. The 2024-2025 winter resulted in village-wide power bills that averaging around $1.3 million per month — around double the normal monthly average. This increase was due to a number of factors, including consistent cold weather that caused municipalities around the state to try to buy a lot of power all at once.

Lake Placid Municipal Electric gets its electricity primarily from the NYPA, which provides hydropower from Buffalo. The power is sent to the village substation on National Grid powerlines. Normally, they get it for less than half a cent per kilowatt hour, which allows them to sell it back to customers at a relatively cheap rate.

The village gets a certain allotment of hydropower from the power authority, an amount that is determined every few years by the power authority, based on usage in the village. When the village goes over that allotment, the power authority has to buy more expensive power from other sources on the market to then sell to the village.

This past winter — especially January through March — was cold. Every day, the village has a certain amount of power to use at the cheaper hydropower rate. Every day that the village usage goes over that amount, they have to buy extra. Then, all sorts of municipalities that have their own power companies, in addition to larger companies like New York State Electric and Gas and National Grid, start buying more power all at once.

To read more about how the village’s energy bills work, and why they were so high last winter, visit tinyurl.com/4bnhxjv8.

In April, Burlington-based National Weather Service meteoriologist Robert Haynes — who serves the Tri-Lakes region — said that while last winter was within the range of normal in terms of temperature, January and February in particular were colder than average and colder than the several years before.

Other parts of the state were also colder. According to federal data, the average temperature in Central Park in New York City was around 31.2 degrees and 35 degrees in January and February respectively. Again, these are within the range of normal but were more than five degrees colder than the averages in those same months for 2023 and 2024.

When many areas experience colder weather at the same time, and consequently start buying power from the market all at once, the prices are driven up, Goddeau explained.

For the coming winter, the same dynamic could arise. It is difficult to predict, but Goddeau encourages anyone who has concerns about being able to afford their energy bill to get in touch with the village.

They can offer payment plans that spread out a particularly high bill over the course of several months. The village can also offer budget billing, where customers can pay a set amount each month that is based on a 24-month average of energy bills.