Inception Connect Utility Download

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TheMonroe Utilities Department is a full service municipal utility provider, offering its customers electric, cable television, broadband cable internet, voice over IP phone service, natural gas, water, and wastewater services.

In 1904, the Water, Light, and Gas Commission was formed with the mission of providing water and ice service to the citizens of Monroe. The Water, Light, and Gas Commission was a five member utility commission appointed by the City Council. Soon after it's inception, wastewater services were added to their mandate. In the 1920's, our first electrical grid was laid down and service was provided to the City. Natural Gas service followed in the 1950's. Cable television service was added in the 1970's, followed by cable internet service in the late 1990's. In 1999 the Water, Light, and Gas Commission unified all city owned and operated utilities under the Monroe Utilities Network. In 2005, the Water, Light, and Gas Commission was abolished and Monroe Utilities Network was folded into the general city government as a combined department.

City Hall (Office or Drive-Thru): Our office and drive-thru hours are from 8am until 5pm Monday through Friday, except holidays. There is also an automated kiosk for utility payments located in the drive-thru area at City Hall available 24 hours a day.

You may elect to have your monthly utility bill automatically drafted from your bank account by completing the Online Automatic Bank Draft or delivering a copy of the draft form and a voided check to the customer service desk at City Hall.

To cancel an Automatic Bank Draft, complete the Account Changes form. In the "What needs to Change" field please indicate "Stop Automatic Bank Draft". Such draft will never charge the customer's bank account any sooner than the stated billing due date.

The United States is at a defining moment in its response to the climate crisis. At the national level, President Biden has recommitted to the Paris Agreement, announcing that the United States will play its part as a climate leader in the coming decade. Sub-nationally, states and cities across the country are committing to 100 percent clean energy standards and making strides to address pollution head on to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

In response, many states are recognizing the pivotal role that public utility commissions (PUCs) can play in the transition to a zero-carbon US grid. In June 2021 alone, Maine and Colorado took legislative steps to bring their PUCs more in line with state climate goals. In Maine, the legislature empowered the PUC to make decisions that support greenhouse gas emission reductions as part of its primary mission. In Colorado, the legislature directed the PUC to identify disproportionately impacted communities and adopt rules to improve equity, minimize impacts, and prioritize decarbonization benefits to these communities.

These developments follow states like Oregon, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, Washington, and others that have taken legislative or executive steps to modernize the mandates of their PUCs in recent years.

Most state PUCs were created in the early 1900s and tasked to regulate public utilities. At their inception, state legislatures primarily established and authorized commissions to oversee the operations and investments of utilities in the absence of market competition to ensure cost containment and affordable rates. Today, state lawmakers are asking these same regulators to regulate far more than they have in the past. PUCs must increasingly consider issues like utility resource plan impacts on GHG emissions, equity, grid reliability, distributed energy resources, increased customer choice, and broader state policy considerations.

Policymakers and the public are increasingly asking PUCs to consider a broader range of objectives than safety, affordability, and reliability in their decision-making. Yet, organizational and structural challenges pose barriers to innovation and informed regulatory decision-making. These challenges may include outdated statutory mandates, staff and resource constraints, gaps in technical expertise, information asymmetry between utilities and PUCs, procedure-heavy processes, and a culture of risk aversion. Barriers such as these risk delaying or impeding the innovative decisions needed to achieve aggressive state energy goals in the timeframe required to achieve a 1.5C future.

This is not the first time that PUCs have had to change to grapple with the evolution of the sector. PUCs evolved in the 20th century for new needs that emerged as relevant at that time. For example, the emergence of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) and growth of restructuring in the 1990s created the need for an expanded view of the public interest that included promoting competition and potential competitive services.

Now, more than 20 years in to the 21st century, most PUCs are still in the early stages of modernizing to address a changing world due to the impacts of climate change. Few states have fully empowered their PUCs to orchestrate the transition to a zero-carbon grid; address prevailing inequities for disadvantaged and other communities; and ensure communities will be safe in the face of climate-induced natural disasters.

Although state budgets, governance structures, and political dynamics are unique from state to state, these efforts reflect a window of opportunity to transform PUCs into the regulatory institutions needed to orchestrate the transition to a zero-carbon future.

To assist policymakers, advocates, and regulators in their zero-carbon efforts, an RMI Insight Brief Series focuses on PUC modernization in the context of equitable GHG emissions reductions. Each issue in the series draws from more than a dozen interviews with industry experts and independent RMI analysis.

The series explores three dimensions of PUC modernization: purpose, the core missions and authorities that empower PUC decision-making; people, the individuals and governance structures that shape PUC decisions; and process, the stakeholder engagements that yield timely, equitable, and co-developed outcomes relevant to stakeholder energy needs and state policy goals. The issues cite examples of states already working toward PUC modernization in these dimensions and offer considerations for state legislatures and commissions that may be considering PUC modernization in their state.

In many states, PUC statutory mandates are not explicitly aligned with state energy goals. This results in significant uncertainty around how commissions perceive their role in orchestrating grid decarbonization and other energy goals, and can thwart innovative, climate aligned decision-making. To rectify this, state legislatures and regulators have several options available to better align regulatory priorities state energy goals.

Modernizing PUC internal organization to match evolving industry needs can unlock innovative decision-making and outcomes that co-optimize pollution reduction, equity, and putting communities and ratepayers first. This issue brief identifies challenges that PUC commissioners and staff face in effectively regulating a rapidly changing energy system, including those related to commission leadership, the need for new skillsets (e.g., analytical methods and soft skills for stakeholder engagement), and PUC organizational structures.

The second brief identifies steps legislatures and PUCs can take to modernize PUC internal organization and strategy. This includes positioning commissioners to lead on strategy development and staff direction, harmonizing staff, improving internal avenues of collaboration, and expanding PUC technical expertise and access to expert services. In addition, the brief highlights states already putting these steps into practice.

This is the first of four construction contracts for the new line, which will extend the Q train from 96 Street to 125 Street, serving more than 100,000 average daily riders and building three new ADA-accessible stations for the East Harlem community. The contract will relocate underground utilities from 105 Street to 110 Street on Second Avenue at the site of the future 106 Street Station, in order to facilitate the subsequent cut-and-cover construction of the station.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said, "This federal investment will make a real difference in the lives of East Harlem residents, and I'm very pleased that Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway project is moving forward. The expansion of the Second Avenue Subway line will ease commute times, reduce congestion, create local jobs, and connect the community more seamlessly with the rest of the city. I'm proud to have worked to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that provided the funding to make projects like this possible, and I'll keep fighting for resources for New York's straphangers."

President & CEO of Union Settlement Dr. Darlene Williams said, "I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her unwavering commitment to phase two of the Second Avenue Subway. I look forward to an equitable transit system, enhanced accessibility, and the overall economic development for the residents and small businesses of East Harlem."

In July, the MTA also unveiled new conceptual renderings of the proposed stations for the extension, providing future riders with a first-ever glimpse into the potential station interior and exterior designs. The draft renderings are subject to further design development and are available here.

As part of the MTA's commitment to delivering key infrastructure projects better, faster, and cheaper, the first contract for Phase 2 incorporates lessons learned from Second Avenue Subway Phase 1. Addressing utility relocation requirements upfront will reduce the risk of unexpected costs or delays later as construction progresses. The first contract will also include temporary streetscape modifications that will be required during construction, including new bike lanes to replace those that will be impacted by construction on Second Avenue, and building remediation in preparation for future contracts for the new subway station at 106 Street.

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