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Those are some of the things NYSEG customers in Cayuga County told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» they've done in the past couple months after seeing their bills from the utility company spike astronomically.

ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» spoke to more than a dozen such customers recently, all of whom reported bill increases of 100% or more in recent months — $200 to $400, $400 to $800, $700 to $1,400.

"I'm afraid to go to the mailbox," said one Auburn customer who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "And I don't think they want you to understand the bill. That's why you get six pages of it."

A representative of NYSEG, in response, told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» that the spiking bills are due to increases in the cost of energy supply, as well as a winter that is about 16% colder than last year's. 

"We are only responsible for the cost associated with the delivery of energy to customers that is noted in every bill, which has not increased," NYSEG said. "We do not profit from supply charges."

The company continued: "Just like when you get gas at a gas station, you don't blame the attendant for the price."

Regardless, the customer outrage has drawn from the media and from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who earlier this month the state's Department of Public Service to conduct an audit of utility company salaries and compensation statewide. A representative of the department, repeating that supply costs have increased, told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» that companies are prohibited from profiting off them. 

The New York State Public Service Commission a rate increase for NYSEG in 2023, saying it would result in average bill increases of about $10 a month in each of the next three years. 

The customers who spoke to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½», however, said the increases they've seen are significantly more than $10 a month.

'They have no answers'

Another thing those Cayuga County customers have in common is their insistence that they haven't changed their energy usage.

Pat Shaw, who's lived in her King Ferry home for 37 years, told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» her NYSEG bill jumped from $477 last January to $786 this January, and from $634 last February to $1,123 this February.

The spikes led Shaw to join the Facebook group  She learned from its 12,000 members that she wasn't alone, and she worries how others are handling the hardship.

"Are they just going to shut off a huge percentage when people can't pay?" she said. "People could die. People could freeze to death."

For Misty Taylor, of Throop, the result has been less food on the table. The bill for her home since 2011 began spiking last winter, she told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½», but reached a new high of $601.35 in January.

When Taylor called NYSEG to complain, she was told to read her meter. She said it was so old and fogged that the numbers weren't visible. Then, she was asked if she was doing anything differently.

"They have no answers," she said. "They pretty much just tell you it's our fault and we're using too much. People are saying I need to unplug all my stuff. Why do I have to live that way?"

A veteran with a disability, Taylor said her utility bills have been eating into her grocery ones. NYSEG offers , but that doesn't make her any less afraid of falling into debt.

"I'm just doing what I can. It's not like we can shop around and look at other companies. We're stuck. We're screwed," she said. "I feel like they can do whatever they want and we're at their mercy."

Lisa Quinn, of Owasco, described her experience with NYSEG to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» as "gaslighting." After she received a bill for $754 in January, she called the company to ask how her 1,700-square-foot raised ranch could have that high a bill. She was told it was normal for a home that size to use 80 to 150 kilowatt hours a day — but after her meter was replaced, it showed an average of 18 a day.

"The heat had been off. The only way I warm my house is with a wood stove that I've been stoking day and night," she said. "I would rather pay a lumberjack $500 a month for wood versus NYSEG."

Quinn's new meter is a smart meter. According to NYSEG, it uses wireless communication to track detailed hourly usage information and allow customers to make more informed spending decisions.

But smart meters have been a source of headaches for many of the customers who spoke to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½», including Traci Leubner, owner of restaurant Roseadah's on Mattie Street in Auburn.

The restaurant's meter was switched a year ago, Leubner told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½». Afterward, her bills dropped significantly. Several months later, however, she received a bill for $7,000. It broke down to about $1,400 a month, twice what she was paying. The company told her there was an error, but she's still trying to get someone on the phone to straighten out what she feels was its error, not hers.

"It seems to me like they're price gouging. I don't think it's an accident. I just think they're doing it because the can," Leubner said. "Who's not going to pay their electric bill? We're all going to pay."

Costs and complaints

NYSEG told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» that less than 1% of its contain errors, but encouraged customers to call if they think they've encountered one. 

The company also addressed some commonly said things about . Unplugging appliances that are off or in standby mode does not make a significant difference, the company said, as they only record actual energy usage. A customer service representative who was recorded telling a NYSEG customer otherwise in a call posted to social media is no longer with the company, it said.

Meanwhile, customers who decline to have smart meters installed are charged $15 a month, NYSEG confirmed. But the fee is mandated by the Public Service Commission, not the company.

Asked whether it sees any areas for improvement due to the widespread outrage this winter, NYSEG reiterated that the cost of energy supply and colder temperatures are to blame for higher bills.

Instead, NYSEG said, customers should look closer at the energy companies that set those costs. Customers can even from a list available on the utility company's website.

The Department of Public Service noted to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» that supply costs are set by the market, not the state, making their increase "typical" due to the high-demand conditions of a cold winter. 

According to the department, the average monthly supply cost for NYSEG customers in Cayuga County rose from $.06 to $.07 kilowatt hours in November and December to $.08 to $.1 in January.

The department also recorded 303 complaints from customers about the utility company in January, compared to 199 in December and 232 in January 2024. NYSEG — which along with Rochester Gas & Electric is owned by Avangrid, a subsidiary of Spanish company Iberdrola — often receives the second-most complaints of all state utility companies, after Con Edison, and has the customers.