Renewable Heat Now Says Assembly Fails to Tackle Energy Affordability Crisis, Siding with Corporate Utilities
NY HEAT ACT Not in NYS Budget-Renewable Heat Now
Renewable Heat Now Calls for Strong Leadership to Pass NY HEAT Act in the Next Month; Clean Heat and Lower Bills
Today, the legislature abandoned hardworking families that are contending with high utility bills on unaffordable energy by excluding the Home Energy Affordable Transition Act (NY HEAT Act) from the state budget. Despite the widespread support for NY HEAT and demands to rein in spending on unnecessary energy infrastructure, legislators are letting corporate utility companies rake in record profits while raising bills on everyday New Yorkers.
“Following deadly heat waves last summer, New Yorkers just experienced one of the coldest winters in recent history. Over a million households are several months behind on their utility bills. To add to the unprecedented climate and energy affordability crisis, the Trump Administration has stripped away federal support programs while enacting tariffs that will only raise costs further. Our lawmakers must pass policies that serve as a bulwark against the Trump Administration’s incompetence and malice,” said Lisa Marshall, Renewable Heat Now campaign member and Advocacy and Organizing Director for New Yorkers for Clean Power. “The NY HEAT Act is a practical and necessary legislation that puts New York squarely on a path toward affordable home heating and cooling while enabling smart energy planning for the coming decades. We call on the Assembly to come to the negotiating table in good faith and pass NY HEAT without further delay.”
Since the NY HEAT Act was introduced in 2022, every New York gas utility has raised its gas delivery prices to pay for more gas pipelines, leading to nearly 1.2 million families in the state falling two or more months behind on their energy bills, with arrears totaling nearly $2 billion. Meanwhile, utility companies have made record profits over the last couple of years due to archaic state laws and corporate price-gouging that require them to spend billions on unnecessary gas line hook ups and unstrategic and costly pipeline replacements.
The NY HEAT Act is a response to the growing energy affordability crisis. The legislation would limit utility bills to 6% of household income, modernize outdated pro-gas mandates that enable reckless gas infrastructure spending by utilities, and redirect funds to upgrading homes with modern, highly efficient electric technologies that end the harmful economic, health, and climate impacts of gas in our homes and businesses.
The energy affordability solutions presented by NY HEAT are popular across party lines, with 67% of Democrats, 47% of Republicans, and 55% of Independents agreeing that the bill should have passed last year. This year, the Renewable Heat Now campaign built further support for NY HEAT, rallying constituents, elected officials, businesses, and community groups in state-wide events, rallies, and lobby visits.
Two bills that the Renewable Heat Now (RHN) campaign has been lobbying for made it into the final budget package. The Geothermal Tax Credit Expansion Act S4882 (Ryan) | A1591 (Rivera) doubles the existing tax credit from $5,000 to $10,000 and makes the credit refundable. The Green Affordable Pre-Electrification Fund or GAP Fund S3315 (Gonzalez) | A2101 (Kelles) also passed; however, the funding provided for pre-electrification measures in the GAP Fund was cut to a mere $2 million of the $200 million that was initially proposed.
Additionally, the budget included $1 billion for a Sustainable Futures Fund, the money to be distributed to various clean energy projects, some of which are Renewable Heat Now priorities. These include: at least $200 million for Thermal Energy Networks on SUNY or CUNY campuses, up to $40 million for municipal Thermal Energy Networks, and at least $50 million for the EmPower Plus program that funds energy efficiency measures for low and moderate income 1-4 family homes. These are positive actions applauded by RHN but pale in comparison to the massive ongoing spending on fracked-gas pipes that the utilities are taking out of ratepayers’ pockets each year. As a state, New York still spends far more on fossil fuel build-out than on decarbonization. In the final weeks of the legislative session, the Assembly must meet the urgency of this moment and get serious about energy affordability and healthy homes for all New Yorkers.
Find statements in reaction to today’s budget release from members of the Renewable Heat Now campaign:
“The failure to pass the NY HEAT Act in this year’s budget is a betrayal of New Yorkers burdened by unaffordable bills and illnesses caused by fossil fuel infrastructure,” said Kim Fraczek, Director of Sane Energy Project. “Regulators continue to approve billions for crumbling, 19th-century gas systems—like National Grid’s aging LNG plant sited in the North Brooklyn floodplain. With no policy in place to stop the flow of public money into these toxic investments, NY HEAT could have broken this cycle. With over 70 Assembly co-sponsors and Senate support, this bill had the public, the policy, and the momentum. Assembly leadership—and a few members tied to the fracking industry—killed it behind closed doors. They ignored our communities because acknowledging us would mean confronting industry power and taking real action. That’s not leadership—it’s complicity. But we won’t back down. Our movement has the solutions, and we’re fighting for the future New Yorkers deserve.”
“The Assembly has failed to deliver on the most basic promise of governance: making life more affordable for working people. Every day they fail to pass NY HEAT, more families fall behind on their bills while utility companies rake in profits off an outdated, polluting gas system,” said Laura Shindell, New York State Director at Food & Water Watch. “Once again, Speaker Heastie and Assembly leadership have chosen to side with corporate interests over the clear will of the people. The solution is right in front of them — pass NY HEAT and finally put working New Yorkers ahead of a broken energy system that’s driving up bills and trapping families with unaffordable costs.”
“Despite their promises to tackle the affordability crisis and make life easier for working families, lawmakers have once again failed to pass the NY HEAT Act, siding with corporate utility companies intent on ripping off ratepayers to boost their already-obscene profits,” said Brahvan Ranga, Political Director at For the Many. “For a third year in a row, the state legislature has passed a budget that inexcusably leaves out NY HEAT, a broadly popular bill that would address sky-high utility costs and the climate crisis. Despite widespread support for the bill, a group of Assemblymembers decided their fossil fuel funders’ desires are more important than their constituents’ needs. The Assembly has proven time and again they won’t take the action we need them to take on utility costs or climate. We will continue to organize and primary lawmakers who refuse to side with working people over their corporate funders, until we are represented by people who will actually fight for our communities.”
“As far as affordability and environmental action, NY’s final budget is a long wait for a nothingburger. New York Assembly leaders have let the public down by failing to pass the NY HEAT Act. The NY HEAT Act is the solution to reduce skyrocketing utility bills, cut air pollution, and begin to unwind the web of fossil fuel infrastructure that’s causing climate destruction,” said Megan Ahearn, Executive Director at New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). “By pushing needed climate action later and later, the Assembly Majority and Speaker Heastie are placing the worsening impacts of the climate crisis squarely on the backs of today’s youth and environmental justice communities.”
“We are excited that the budget includes an increase in the cap on NY’s Geothermal tax credit from $5,000 to $10,000, as well as a provision that makes the credit refundable for many New Yorkers. Geothermal provides an efficient heating and cooling option for buildings in New York, without stressing the electric grid. This measure cuts the upfront costs of geothermal heat pump systems in a way that will stimulate the market and create jobs,” said Christine Hoffer, Executive Director at New York Geothermal Energy Organization. (NY-GEO). “We ask the legislature to now turn their attention to passing the NY HEAT Act, which will allow utilities to cut spending on unneeded gas infrastructure and protect ratepayers from ever-rising utility bills.”
“The Assembly has five weeks left to pass the NY HEAT Act this year and to finally protect New Yorkers from skyrocketing utility bills and planet destroying fracked gas. After years of increasing energy debt, New Yorkers deserve nothing less than the cleaner heat and lower bills that the NY HEAT Act will bring,” said Jessica Azulay, Executive Director of Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE).
