NY HEAT

NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act
S.2016B Krueger/A.4592B Fahy

We must pass NY HEAT to deliver immediate relief to New Yorkers and plan for a future that delivers the economic, health, and climate benefits of zero-emissions heating and cooling.

A Careful Transition Focused on Protecting Consumers, Workers
Senate Bill S.2016B/Assembly Bill A.4592B, the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act, will allow the Public Service Commission to carefully transition New York communities toward affordable zero-emissions heating and cooling. This legislation will:

  • Empower utilities to provide the most cost-effective and safest long-term energy sources, rather than just gas
  • Save customers $200 million per year by ending outdated gas expansion subsidies such as the “100 Foot Rule” and create opportunities for further savings by retiring old gas distribution systems when they are no longer necessary and can be replaced with cost-effective zero-emissions alternatives
  • Cap the cost of energy bills at 6% of a household’s income, delivering financial relief
  • Open the door for technology like Thermal Energy Networks at a neighborhood scale, allowing entire communities to access zero-emissions heating and cooling together
  • Deliver cleaner indoor and outdoor air for communities
  • Create high-skilled, high-paying jobs to manage the transition by requiring prevailing wages for neighborhood-scale decarbonization projects
  • Protect customers by providing them with financial and technical support for their transition, as well as only transitioning customers if they have access to safe and reliable energy

New York Ratepayers Deserve Relief
New Yorkers face an outsized energy burden compared to the rest of the United States, with over two million low- and middle-income households in New York spending 6% or more of their income on their energy bills. Low-income households face a particularly difficult energy cost burden, with New York households earning below 30% of the state median income spending 15% of their income on energy bills on average.1

In August 2023, over 34,000 New Yorkers experienced utility shut-offs – demonstrating the dire need to protect consumers from higher and higher utility bills.2

If we don’t pass NY HEAT now, the gas system will continue to cost consumers hundreds of millions per year for growing a system that New York’s Climate Action Plan recommends we downsize. Even though many of the utility capital investment projects in the pipeline today are at risk of becoming obsolete as New York achieves its climate goals, consumers will be on the hook to pay for these stranded assets for decades to come.

1 Data from the US Department of Energy Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool, accessed May 2023
2 Data from the New York Department of Public Service, Matter Number 91-00744, filed September 2023