New Rockland County Tax on O&R Bills Takes Effect Today

Residential gas and electric bills in Rockland County just got a little more expensive today.

The new goes into effect today, adding 4 percent more in taxes to electric and gas bills. For Orange and Rockland Utilities customers, the utility says that means about a $10 increase on the average monthly bill — for the next 20 years.

You'lls see the new Energy Sales Tax listed as a line item on your utility bill.   

ELECTRIC - The impact of the tax on a typical O&R residential full-service electric bill is $4.67 per month, or $56.04 per year.

GAS -The impact on a typical O&R residential full-service gas bill is $5.37 per month, or $64.44 per year.  

COMBINATION - The monthly impact of the County of Rockland Energy Sales Tax on a typical O&R residential full-service combination electric and gas bill is $10.04 or $120.48 per year.

The tax was imposed this year by Rockland County as one of its measures to cope with a massive budget deficit. O&R says it continues to oppose governments attempts to raise new revenue through utility bills.

The Rockland County Legislature approved the new tax in May, seeing it as a new source of $12 million in revenue for the .

The increase does not apply to Rockland business, commercial or industrial energy customers, who already pay this sales tax.

The tax applies to the entire electric, gas and combination electric and gas bills for approximately 55,000 full-service customers of O&R’s 100,000 residential customers in Rockland County. “Full-service” means the customer buys energy supply (electric or gas) from O&R and O&R delivers that energy to the customer.   

Under New York State tax law, about 45,000 of O&R’s 100,000 Rockland residential customers who purchase the energy portion of their O&R utility bill from a supplier other than O&R are exempt from the Energy Sales Tax on the O&R delivery charge portion of the bill. Based on current market prices for electric and gas supply, those customers would only pay the sales tax on the supply portion, which is approximately 40 percent (taxes and fees included) of their combined O&R/Energy supplier electric and gas bills. Customers who contract with an energy supplier other than O&R for electric and gas supply will pay approximately $4 more per month under the new energy sales tax as opposed to $10 per month more for O&R full-service combination gas and electric customers.    

The new Rockland tax is in addition to the existing taxes and government fees that typical O&R residential full-service customers already pay monthly through their bills. Taxes and fees include:

- Local property taxes

- The Gross Receipts Tax

- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) tax

- Federal and state income taxes

- The NYS 18a assessment

- The System Benefits Charge (SBC)

- The Renewable Portfolio Standard Charge (RPS)

- Payroll taxes.

These are in addition to the sales taxes O&R pays on purchases of equipment, materials and services which are embedded in our costs to supply energy delivery service.

The typical O&R full-service electric customer currently pays $20.03 or 17 percent of the monthly bill to taxes and government fees. The typical O&R full-service gas customer currently pays $18.30 or 14 percent of the monthly bill in taxes and government fees.