The NY HEAT Act will also lower home energy bills for millions of New Yorkers by directing the state’s Public Service Commission to limit the average energy burdens of low-to-moderate income households to 6% of their earnings, which the Commission can accomplish while shielding higher earners from cost shifts.
Outdated laws allow gas hookups worth thousands of dollars each to be given away at no or minimal cost to new customers. Existing customers are forced to pick up the tab that grows by about $200 million each year, raising everyone’s gas bills.
The least understood provision of the NY HEAT Act is one that protects existing natural gas customers from spiraling prices. The Kingston rally was held at one of many construction sites where Central Hudson is spending $71 million dollars to replace century-old gas pipes with brand new ones – a cost that the utility’s customers bear along with a nearly 10% markup for a guaranteed return on investment.
These costs are added to utility bills based on an anticipated 60–80 years of service life that the new pipes will never see – heating and cooking with gas isn’t just going out of style, it will also be out of compliance with New York’s climate law by 2050. Without squeezing the cost-recovery into a couple of decades, which will dramatically magnify the impact on gas bills, ratepayers could be on the hook to continue paying for decades after the pipes are retired.
There’s even more trouble brewing for existing gas customers. As gas bills increase, awareness of gas stoves’ serious health impacts grows, and heat pumps buoyed by federal and state incentives gain popularity, gas customers will increasingly switch to superior electric alternatives. This will leave progressively fewer customers to bear the spiraling costs of the gas distribution network. This isn’t just a hypothesis, but a conclusion that utility experts have arrived at after rigorous analysis.
The NY HEAT Act has provisions for modernizing New York’s laws governing utility regulations to address each of these issues.
Last year, the state passed legislation backing utility thermal energy networks – a clean, efficient and cost-effective heating and cooling solution for entire neighborhoods. Strategically replacing the oldest pipes with thermal energy conduits would build lasting energy infrastructure and offer a path for union workers with pipe skills to transition to a clean-energy future.
We respectfully urge Speaker Heastie and Assemblymember Zebrowski, whose committee is handling this bill, to negotiate and resolve any differences with the bill’s sponsors and clear it for passage.
Anshul Gupta
Kingston, NY
Anshul Gupta is a senior policy analyst with New Yorkers for Clean Power, a Kingston-based statewide campaign to rapidly shift to a clean energy economy.
