Understanding Con Edison Commercial Rates

How Con Edison Rates Work for Commercial Buildings

Consolidated Edison (Con Edison) is the primary electric utility serving New York City. Commercial buildings in NYC are billed under specific rate schedules called Service Classifications (SC). The most common classification for commercial submetering is SC-9, which covers general large commercial and industrial customers.

Understanding these rates matters because when you submeter your building and invoice tenants for their electricity usage, the rates you apply must match what Con Edison actually charges. Getting this wrong — even by a fraction of a cent per kilowatt hour — adds up to real money across a full building over a year.

Key Components of a Con Edison Commercial Bill

A Con Edison commercial electric bill is not a single rate per kilowatt hour. It's composed of multiple charge categories, each calculated differently:

Basic Service Charge

A fixed monthly fee charged regardless of consumption. This covers the cost of maintaining your connection to the grid. For commercial accounts, this is typically a modest flat dollar amount.

Energy Supply Charges

This is the cost of the electricity itself, measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). The supply rate varies depending on whether you purchase electricity from Con Edison directly or from a third-party Energy Service Company (ESCO). If you buy from Con Edison, the supply charge includes the Market Supply Charge, which fluctuates based on wholesale electricity market prices.

Demand Charges

Demand charges are based on your peak power draw during the billing period, measured in kilowatts (kW). This is different from energy charges, which measure total consumption. A tenant who uses 10,000 kWh spread evenly throughout the month will have a lower demand charge than a tenant who uses the same 10,000 kWh but with spikes during peak hours.

Demand charges can be a significant portion of a commercial electric bill. Under SC-9, Con Edison applies both a general demand charge and a time-of-use demand charge during peak summer months (June through September).

Delivery Charges

Delivery charges cover the cost of transmitting electricity from the power plant to your building through Con Edison's transmission and distribution infrastructure. These include per-kWh charges for transmission and distribution, system benefit charges, and various surcharges mandated by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC).

Taxes and Surcharges

New York State and City impose several taxes and surcharges on electricity, including the state gross receipts tax, NYC utility tax, and various temporary surcharges. These are calculated as percentages of other charges and add materially to the total bill.

Why Rates Change (And Why It Matters for Submetering)

Con Edison rates are not static. They change for several reasons:

• Rate cases. Con Edison periodically files rate cases with the New York Public Service Commission to adjust its delivery rates. These proceedings can result in rate increases or restructuring of charge components.
• Market supply charges. The energy supply portion fluctuates monthly based on wholesale electricity market conditions. Winter and summer months typically see higher rates due to increased demand.
• Seasonal demand charges. Under SC-9, demand charges include additional time-of-use components during summer peak months (June–September) that don't apply in other months.
• Surcharge adjustments. Various surcharges are updated periodically by the PSC, including the System Benefits Charge, Renewable Energy Credits, and temporary rate adjustments.

For building owners who submeter, every rate change directly affects the accuracy of tenant invoices. If you're using last quarter's rates to bill tenants this month, you're either overcharging (creating dispute risk) or undercharging (losing revenue).

How Rate Errors Cost Building Owners Money

Rate errors in submetering are surprisingly common and expensive:

• Overcharging creates disputes. Tenants who compare their submeter invoice to published Con Edison rates will catch overcharges. This erodes trust and can lead to legal action, especially in buildings subject to Local Law 88 where transparent billing is expected.
• Undercharging means lost revenue. More insidiously, many building owners undercharge tenants because they're using outdated rates. A rate that's $0.005/kWh below current in a building consuming 500,000 kWh/month means $2,500 in lost revenue every month — $30,000 per year.
• Service bureaus use spreadsheets. Traditional submetering service bureaus typically look up rates manually and enter them into spreadsheets. This process is error-prone, especially when multiple rate components change at different times.
• Audit exposure. If your building is audited (by a tenant, an accountant, or a potential buyer during due diligence), rate errors undermine the credibility of your entire billing operation.

Automating Rate Tracking with SimpleSubMeter

SimpleSubMeter eliminates rate errors by automating the entire rate tracking process:

• Automatic rate updates. The platform monitors Con Edison rate schedules and updates rates as they change. You never need to manually look up or enter rates.
• Rate source archival. Every rate used for billing is archived with the original source document and a SHA-256 hash for integrity verification. If anyone questions a rate, the source is always available.
• Audit trail on every invoice. Each tenant invoice links directly to the rate source used to calculate charges. Tenants can verify the math themselves through the tenant portal.
• No manual data entry. Rates flow automatically from Con Edison's published schedules into your tenant invoices. The only manual step is entering meter readings — and that takes about five minutes per building.

Schedule a demo to see how SimpleSubMeter handles Con Edison rate tracking and tenant billing for your building.