How N.Y can save money and energy
When the dust settled on the passage of the state budget last week, two critical initiatives were left on the negotiating table that together would have saved New Yorkers billions of dollars every year: the NY HEAT Act and the Climate Change Superfund Act. Fortunately, there is still time before the legislative session ends in June to pass these bills and deliver massive savings for New York families.
The New York Home Energy Affordable Transition Act, or NY HEAT, aligns our state utility laws with the requirements of our Climate Law, so that gas ratepayers are no longer forced to subsidize the expansion of the gas system, spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year to hook up new customers and line the pockets of utility company shareholders.
Under NY HEAT, ratepayers will also be relieved of the burden of paying more than $150 billion over the coming decades to replace old, leaky pipes, which translates to $35,000 for every gas customer in New York. This status quo is not only unsustainable, it’s unaffordable, and it’s driving rate increases across our state.
Under a three-year agreement recently announced by National Grid, currently under consideration by the state Public Service Commission, customers in New York City and Long Island would see their gas bills increase by an average of nearly $30 per month in the first year, $14 per month in the second year, and about $20 per month in the third year. These rate increases are driven in part by nearly $5 billion in subsidies for new gas pipes. NY HEAT will end this wasteful spending.
NY HEAT will also codify a goal of protecting residential customers from paying more than 6% of their household income for energy bills, which could save 1 in 4 New York households an average of $136 each month, cutting their bills nearly in half.
The state Senate has already passed NY HEAT, and the governor included key elements in her budget proposal, but the Assembly has failed to support it. There is still time for them to do so.
The Climate Change Superfund Act would save New Yorkers $3 billion per year for the next 25 years. Currently, taxpayers, businesses, and individuals are paying 100% of the costs of repairing from, and preparing for, extreme weather events driven by climate change. These disasters are already taking a toll on the lives and livelihoods of New Yorkers. They are also costing us billions of dollars.
Last year, Gov. Hochul announced $2.7 billion in spending to address climate impacts. Estimates for upgrading New York City’s sewer system stand at $100 billion, and a proposal to protect the city from flooding could cost more than $50 billion. The price tag for protecting Long Island is estimated to be at least $75 billion to $100 billion.
It’s not just state taxes that are carrying these burdens — these costs are already showing up in your local taxes too. A study by the state comptroller recently found that from 2018 to 2028, 55% of New York State localities’ municipal spending outside of New York City was or will be related to managing climate impacts, and that in the 2023 fiscal year New York City planned to spend $2.1 billion on projects dedicated exclusively or partially to adaptation and resilience.
The Climate Change Superfund will ensure that New Yorkers are not left holding the bag for all these costs. It would require around 40 of the largest multinational oil, gas, and coal companies — the ones who made the mess that the rest of us are cleaning up — to collectively pay $75 billion over 25 years for damages caused by their past activities.
Best of all, economists agree that because of the way the Superfund is designed, Big Oil companies will not be able to pass on the costs to consumers. The oil companies know this, and that’s why they strongly oppose Superfund while supporting carbon pricing plans, like the governor’s Cap & Invest program, that are designed to allow them to pass costs along.
The Senate has demonstrated that it has taxpayers’ backs, putting the Climate Change Superfund in the Senate one-house budget proposal. The Assembly has expressed limited support. Unfortunately, the governor’s administration remains opposed to this common-sense measure.
Together, NY HEAT and the Climate Change Superfund Act will save New Yorkers billions of dollars every year for decades to come, while putting our state on the path to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and protecting our families from the impacts of the climate crisis. The Legislature has less than two months to pass these bills and send them to the governor’s desk. It’s time to act.