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Amid steep national price increases for certain consumer items, New York Republican state Sen. Tom O’Mara criticized the high cost of living in his state.
In a column published in the Wellsville Sun on Jan. 20, O’Mara blamed Democrats in Albany for making New York “an increasingly expensive state in which to live, work, raise a family, or run a business.”
Republicans in the legislature, including O’Mara, have launched a “Save New York” campaign to tackle the cost of living, including electricity rates.
O’Mara is backing a bill that would return $2 billion to $3 billion in unspent money to taxpayers. The money would come from the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority, which is tasked with promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy and emissions reduction.
In the column, O’Mara said such efforts are important because “New Yorkers pay 49% more than the national average for electricity.”
Federal data supports O’Mara’s statistic, though the percentage varies by the type of customer, and New York’s rates are lower than most New England states.
How much higher are electricity costs in New York state?
O’Mara — whose district includes portions of central New York state and the southern tier, including Corning and Elmira — responded to our inquiry with a post to an Empire Center for Public Policy article warning about the rising prices of electricity in New York.
According to the article, “In October 2025, the average residential electricity price in New York hit 26.95 cents per kilowatt-hour — about 50 percent higher than the U.S. average and among the top ten highest rates nationwide.”
This aligns with slightly more recent data collected by the federal Energy Information Administration.
In November 2025, the federal agency found, residential users in New York state paid average electricity prices of 26.49 cents per kilowatt hour in November 2025. The national rate that month was 17.78 cents per kilowatt hour, so New York state’s rate was exactly 49% higher than the national average.
The premium paid by commercial users in New York state was similar to what residential users paid — 50% above the national average.
Two other categories of users — industrial and transportation — were closer to the national average, but still above it. Industrial users, which include major plants with a dedicated electricity supply, paid 6% more than the national average, while transportation users, such as rail, paid 15% more.
New York compared favorably with some of its regional neighbors.
Among New England states, residential customers in Massachusetts paid 31.22 cents per kilowatt hour, Rhode Island residents paid 30.82, Maine residents paid 27.85, New Hampshire residents paid 27.37, and Connecticut residents paid 27.02 for residential. The only New England state that was less expensive than New York was Vermont, where residential customers paid 24.17 cents per kilowatt hour.
Two states in the mid-Atlantic region — New Jersey and Pennsylvania — had lower prices than New York, with 22.73 cents and 20.17 cents, respectively.
Severin Borenstein, a University of California-Berkeley public policy and business administration professor, cautioned that the averages mask variations among people and locations.
“New York has many different utilities and rates, so some people pay even more than that differential and others pay less,” Borenstein said.
Our ruling
O’Mara said, “New Yorkers pay 49% more than the national average for electricity.”
Federal data from November 2025 shows that this is correct for residential and commercial users. Costs for industrial and transportation users were also above the national average, but not as dramatically.
While O’Mara blamed New York’s Democrats for the high electricity prices, New York’s electricity costs are below those of most New England states, although they are higher than two mid-Atlantic states, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The statement is accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it Mostly True.
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