Albany – Today, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon and Senator Liz Krueger, sponsors of the NY HEAT Act, introduced the Customer Savings and Reliability Act (CSRA). The new bill was drafted based on feedback and discussions within the Assembly Democratic Conference, and addresses member concerns in order to secure passage of the bill this session.

“This new bill makes substantial and thoughtful changes to address the concerns that my Assembly colleagues have raised in order to deliver energy savings and reliability to New Yorkers. We also ensured that the community has real options when it comes to energy delivery – which they don't currently have – and opportunities to engage with their localities and other stakeholders on energy transition programs. Passing this bill will demonstrate that we have listened to the public, who no longer want to foot the bill for utilities to expand old, leaky fossil fuel pipelines that are wildly expensive when better options exist,” said Assemblymember Simon.

"We simply cannot leave Albany without addressing the crisis of rising gas rates for New Yorkers across the state," said Sen. Krueger. "We have listened to those Assembly Members who have been unable to support NY HEAT. They have told us they want a regional approach that guarantees reliability, ensures ratepayer savings, protects difficult-to-electrify businesses, and provides choice for customers. The CSRA does all those things, while still saving all ratepayers billions of dollars. We have made huge concessions and demonstrated that we're willing to go far more than halfway – it's time to get this across the finish line."

As of September 2024, approximately 1 in 7 households in New York were two months or more behind on their energy bills. The crisis is impacting more than 1.2 million families, who are collectively in debt more than $1.3 billion dollars to utility companies, which were projected to charge New Yorkers 18% more for heat this winter, even though the price of gas itself is going down.

Utilities in every part of New York State are raising rates dramatically. To take one example, under a recent three-year rate agreement announced by National Grid, 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 spending on new gas infrastructure.

The gas system status quo is both unaffordable and bad for the climate. Currently, ratepayers are forced to subsidize expansion of the gas system, spending over $200 million each year because of the "100-foot rule." Every new mile of gas pipeline costs an average of $3-$6 million – $60,000 per customer on that line – all subsidized by existing ratepayers.

Because of a gas mandate (also known as "the utility obligation to serve gas"), an antiquated state law that locks utilities, and consequently the vast majority of New Yorkers, into the dirty, expensive, aging gas system for heat, a single customer who wants to stay on the gas system can prevent an entire neighborhood from having the opportunity to receive cheaper, cleaner heating alternatives from their utility. This law locks ratepayers into spending billions of dollars for gas infrastructure, even when there are cheaper alternatives, and is driving rate hikes across the state.

The NY HEAT Act was designed to save ratepayers money by ending this wasteful spending. It would have done so by eliminating the "100-foot rule" and amending the gas mandate to require utilities to provide easy access to the most affordable and healthier heating options for their families.

The Customer Savings and Reliability Act would end the 100-foot rule and amend the utility obligation to serve gas, but it makes the latter changes on an opt-out basis, giving utilities discretion as to their participation, and allowing for a regional approach favored by many Assembly Members. It also explicitly exempts difficult-to-electrify industrial and commercial uses, energy intensive and trade exposed industries, and critical infrastructure, such as hospitals. And it guarantees democratic choice for affected customers, requiring at least a majority of affected customers to support a Neighborhood Gas Transition Project before it could proceed.

The new bill also removes several other pieces of the NY HEAT Act, including requiring the Public Service Commission to develop a plan for achieving its existing goal to protect residential customers from bearing an energy burden greater than six percent of their income, pairing the bill down to its most essential elements. The bill sponsors made clear that these protections are a critical lifeline for millions of New Yorkers that must be revisited separately in future legislative sessions.

Changes in the CSRA from NY HEAT include:

• Regional Affordable Gas Transition Plans from the Public Service Commission must recognize the unique needs of every region of the state.
• Regional Savings and Reliability Programs include a process for utilities to opt out.
• Guardrails for Regional Savings and Reliability Programs are updated to explicitly clarify that customers will bear no cost for being transitioned off of gas, and difficult-to-electrify industrial or commercial uses, energy intensive and trade exposed industries, and critical infrastructure will not have service discontinued through such programs.
• Neighborhood Gas Transition Projects will not proceed unless approved by at least 50% of affected customers after 2030. Prior to 2030 the threshold is 100% of affected customers.
• Language is cut that would have required the PSC to develop a plan for achieving its existing goal to protect residential customers from bearing an energy burden greater than six percent of their income.
• Language is cut that would have required gas utilities to review capital construction plans and examine feasible alternatives and required the participation of overlapping electric utilities.
• Language is cut that would have repealed Section 66-b of the Public Service Law, which requires the continuation of gas service following demolition.
• Language is cut that would have limited the expansion of gas service into new service territories.
• Language is cut that would have repealed Section 66-g of the Public Service Law, which requires the purchase of indigenous natural gas by electric utilities.