NEW CITY – Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef Monday came out swinging against Orange and Rockland Utilities’ rate case settlement agreement filed late Friday.

Vanderhoef said according to the proposal, electric rates would increase by more than 2.5 percent under a three-year rate plan, with similar increases in 2009 and 2010. He refused to sign the plan.

 “With the uncertainty of the current economy and the rising costs of energy, this rate case is badly timed. We in county government are not in favor of this result,” he said. “It was important for us to be part of this proceeding, as we did have an impact in spreading the rate increase out over a period of years so that out residents would not get sit all at once. But the real issues of energy conservation and decoupling – separating revenues from critical energy conservation efforts – are ongoing and must be addressed.”

O&R spokesman Michael Donovan said the utility has uses for the additional funds.

“Electric system expansion and service reliability improvements have been the focus of the rate request made to the state Public Service Commission,” said O&R spokesman Michael Donovan. “Those two issues were driven by a growing customer base and increasing demands for electricity from that customer base.”

The last electric rate increase approved for O&R was in 1993.

O&R originally proposed an electric rate increase of 7.8 percent in one year.

Hearings on the proposed settlement agreement will likely be held next month, said Vanderhoef.