New York commercial gas: territory guide

Which utility delivers gas at a New York address

The first question in New York is territorial, not commercial. The state has one of the most fragmented gas distribution maps in the country, and the delivery utility is fixed by the service address. Con Edison serves Manhattan, the Bronx, part of Queens and Brooklyn, and Westchester County under Schedule P.S.C. No. 9 - Gas. National Grid operates three separate gas utilities: The Brooklyn Union Gas Company, doing business as National Grid NY and known as KEDNY, in Brooklyn and Queens; KeySpan Gas East Corporation, known as KEDLI, on Long Island; and Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation upstate. NYSEG and RG&E are separate upstate gas utilities with their own tariffs, and National Fuel Gas serves the Buffalo-Niagara frontier. The same brand can cover more than one tariff: a National Grid account in Brooklyn sits under KEDNY's rules, while an account in Syracuse is a Niagara Mohawk customer.

• Con Edison - Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens and Brooklyn, and Westchester County.
• National Grid KEDNY - The Brooklyn Union Gas Company, serving Brooklyn and Queens.
• National Grid KEDLI - KeySpan Gas East Corporation, serving Long Island.
• National Grid (Niagara Mohawk) - the upstate gas territory, a separate utility and tariff.
• NYSEG and RG&E - separate upstate gas utilities; RG&E is concentrated around Rochester.
• National Fuel Gas - the Buffalo-Niagara frontier, with its own tariff.
• The service address, not the state, sets the delivery utility, the rate class and the tariff.

Sales service versus transportation service

A New York gas account buys gas one of two ways, and the bill shows which. Under sales service the utility procures the commodity and delivers it, and the account pays the utility for both. Under transportation service the account, or its energy service company, buys the gas upstream and the utility moves it to the meter, charging for delivery, balancing and metering while the commodity is paid to the supplier under a separate contract. Retail access is the transportation route. The tariff designation tells you which rulebook applies, so it is worth finding on the bill: Con Edison's gas service sits under Schedule P.S.C. No. 9 - Gas; KEDNY operates under P.S.C. No. 12 - Gas and KEDLI under P.S.C. No. 1 - Gas; NYSEG's schedules are PSC No. 87 for sales and No. 88 for retail access; and RG&E operates under PSC No. 16 - Gas.

• Sales service - the utility supplies the commodity and delivers it; one bill, one supplier.
• Transportation service - you or an ESCO supply the gas; the utility delivers and balances it.
• Con Edison gas service is under Schedule P.S.C. No. 9 - Gas.
• KEDNY operates under P.S.C. No. 12 - Gas; KEDLI under P.S.C. No. 1 - Gas.
• NYSEG: PSC No. 87 sales and No. 88 retail access; RG&E: PSC No. 16 - Gas.

Firm versus interruptible service

Firm service is designed to stay on through design-weather conditions. Interruptible service can be curtailed when the system is stressed, which is why it carries a lower delivery charge, and why it demands an alternate-fuel capability the business can actually use. On Con Edison's gas tariff the interruptible schedule is Service Classification No. 9, and gas used while a customer was supposed to be curtailing is priced punitively: the tariff applies a multiple of the applicable firm rate to unauthorized use. Interruptible status is not a discount to ask for but a commitment that the process can lose gas, usually on the coldest days, without stopping. The economics work only where the operation has a genuine second fuel or a load that can pause, and the notice window in the tariff decides how much warning the account gets.

• Firm service: uninterrupted delivery, first call on capacity.
• Interruptible service: curtailable during system stress, with a lower delivery charge.
• Interruptible usually requires dual-fuel equipment or another alternate fuel.
• Con Edison's interruptible gas schedule is Service Classification No. 9.
• The tariff prices unauthorized use during a curtailment at a multiple of the firm rate.

The 66-HDD rule: why an ESCO needs capacity before it can serve you

The mechanism that decides whether a New York ESCO can supply a small commercial account is capacity, not price. On the NYSEG and RG&E systems, most small and mid-size accounts sit in the Non-Daily Metered Program, and the companies' Gas Transportation Operating Procedures require the ESCO to hold firm, non-recallable pipeline capacity sufficient to meet the aggregation pool's peak-day requirement, calculated on a 66 heating-degree-day basis. Daily-metered customers are planned on a 75-HDD basis. In practice an ESCO quoting a non-daily-metered account has to have assembled the capacity to cover it on a design day; where it has not, it declines or prices the exposure in. The same structure of rule exists across the state's utilities, though the numbers and the pooling mechanics are utility-specific, so the operating procedures for the specific LDC are the controlling document rather than the rate schedule alone.

• Most small and mid-size commercial accounts are non-daily-metered.
• The ESCO must hold capacity for the aggregation pool's peak-day need.
• The planning basis is 66 heating degree days for non-daily-metered accounts; 75 for daily-metered.
• The capacity must be firm and non-recallable, not interruptible.
• The rule lives in each utility's Gas Transportation Operating Procedures.

The units: therms, CCF and Mcf

A gas meter records volume, but a bill is usually struck in energy, and the two are not the same number. A therm is 100,000 Btu, a CCF is 100 cubic feet and an Mcf is 1,000 cubic feet, so one Mcf is ten CCF. Utilities commonly bill smaller commercial accounts in therms and larger transportation accounts in Mcf or CCF, which is why two quotes can look a hundredfold apart until the unit is checked. The conversion is not a fixed ratio, because the heat content of the gas varies: therms equal cubic feet multiplied by Btu per cubic foot, divided by 100,000. At a typical 1,035 Btu per cubic foot one CCF works out to about 1.035 therms, but the heating value the utility assigns for the billing period is the number that governs. To compare a per-therm offer with a per-Mcf offer, convert both to the same unit using your own bill's factor.

• Therm - 100,000 Btu, the usual energy unit on a smaller commercial bill.
• CCF - 100 cubic feet; Mcf - 1,000 cubic feet, which is ten CCF.
• Therms = (cubic feet x Btu per cubic foot) / 100,000.
• One CCF is only approximately one therm; heat content decides the exact figure.
• Convert both offers to the same unit before comparing them.

Winter supply and the pipeline map

Downstate New York produces very little gas of its own and leans on interstate pipelines to reach the city gate. The systems commonly cited as serving the region are Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Iroquois Gas Transmission, Algonquin Gas Transmission, Transco and Millennium Pipeline. In-state production is a small share of what the state consumes and sits mostly in the western and central parts of the state, while the largest winter demand is the New York City, Long Island and Hudson Valley load. That geography is the winter story: when a cold snap lifts heating demand across the Northeast at once, New York competes for the same pipeline capacity that serves New England, and the marginal molecules are the most expensive of the year. A fixed commodity price does not remove delivery and balancing charges, and where an account has interruptible delivery, a capacity shortfall appears as curtailment risk rather than as a line item.

• Downstate New York depends on interstate pipeline capacity to reach the city gate.
• Commonly cited routes: Tennessee, Iroquois, Algonquin, Transco and Millennium.
• State production is small and mostly upstate; the winter peak is downstate.
• Northeast cold snaps put New York in competition with New England for the same supply.
• A fixed commodity price does not fix delivery, balancing or curtailment risk.

Comparing two New York gas offers on the same basis

Because delivery is identical whoever supplies, a New York gas comparison should strip out everything the utility charges and compare only what the supplier controls. Put both offers on the same unit, the same term length, the same start month and the same usage shape. Confirm whether pipeline capacity and transportation are inside the offered price or billed separately, because a per-therm figure that excludes a capacity charge is not comparable to one that includes it. Ask, in writing, what happens at the end of the term - whether the rate rolls to a month-to-month default and what notice is required to leave - since the renewal mechanics decide the second year's cost more often than the first-year figure does. Then check the arithmetic against your own twelve months of usage rather than an estimated profile.

• Same unit, same term length, same start month, same usage shape.
• Compare only the supply component; delivery is the same whichever supplier serves.
• Establish whether capacity and transportation are bundled or passed through.
• Get the end-of-term notice requirement in writing.
• Treat the first-year price and the renewal rule as two separate decisions.

When a New York gas bill looks wrong, and what to gather first

Route a query to the party that owns the number. Delivery charges, meter readings, rate classification and service issues belong to the local distribution company - Con Edison, National Grid, NYSEG, RG&E or National Fuel. The commodity rate applied, a supplier change you did not authorize, or a term you did not agree belongs to the ESCO. Keep a dated log from the first contact rather than reconstructing it after an escalation. Before asking for pricing, gather the delivery utility and the schedule number from the bill, twelve months of therms or CCF, the meter number, whether the account is daily- or non-daily-metered, and the current contract's end date and notice period. That set is what any supplier or advisor needs to price the account properly. Whether the address can choose a supplier at all depends on the service address, the meter and the utility territory - municipal utilities, cooperatives and some jurisdictions have no retail choice. HighGround may receive compensation from providers on completed purchases, and an inquiry places no order and switches no supplier.

• Delivery, meter and rate-class issues: the utility.
• Supply, the rate applied and unauthorized supplier changes: the ESCO.
• Keep a dated record from the first contact, not after the escalation.
• Gather the schedule number, twelve months of usage and the meter number.
• Note daily- versus non-daily-metered status, and the current notice period.

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