It Could Soon Cost More to Take a Shower. Here’s Why.

Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll find out why it’s going to cost more to take a shower in New York — and to renew a lease on a rent-stabilized apartment. We’ll also get details on a prison sentence for the Brooklyn preacher known as the bling bishop.

Credit…Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

It already costs a lot to live in New York City. For the quarter of the city’s population that lives in rent-stabilized housing, it is going to cost more — as much as 5.25 percent more.

Increases for lease renewals, which were authorized on Monday by the Rent Guidelines Board, the city agency that oversees the city’s rent-regulation system, were slightly less than those the board approved last year.

And, because of a decision by a different city board, it’s also going to cost more to take a shower.

Water and rent are not the only basics that cost more. Con Edison’s rates went up 4.2 percent in January and will go up an additional 3.8 percent next January, adding a total of $9.63 to a customer’s bill, assuming that he or she uses 600 kilowatt-hours a month.