Kingston, NY – The Governor, over the weekend, signed into law a bill introduced by Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, the Public Renewables Transparency Act (A07686A), which passed the State Assembly unanimously earlier this year. Please see the Assemblymember’s comment below:

“Through the powers of the New York State legislature, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New York Power Authority, a state-owned corporation much like the Hudson Valley Power Authority, in 1931. He did so in order to prevent Wall Street investors from owning and profiting off the state’s emerging hydropower. As a result, NYPA lowered electricity rates immediately, and to this day, provides some of the cheapest and cleanest electricity in the country.

However, as a result of the restructuring that happened in the energy sector through the 90s, during which the supply side was opened up to competition in the wholesale market, NYPA was effectively prohibited from building new renewable energy. Privately-owned companies argued that having to compete with a state-owned corporation would be unfair, because a state-owned corporation has too many advantages. It was precisely to harness these advantages that in 2023, we passed the Build Public Renewables Act through the state’s budget. This bill not only authorizes, but also mandates NYPA to build enough publicly-owned renewable energy to fill the gap to meet the state’s climate goals, and to use the revenues from the sale of this energy to fund automatic bill discounts to the most needy households in the state.

As a result of monitoring the implementation of this enacted law, I introduced the Public Renewables Transparency Act to ensure that as NYPA rolls out its plan to build public renewables, four things must happen: (1) NYPA must be part of the state’s energy planning board (2) NYPA must publish on its website a dashboard that shows the progress of is renewable projects, (3) NYPA must share a public report on the implementation of their renewable projects at least three board meetings per year, and(4) prioritize public hearing locations that are accessible via public transit. This is what the new law will require.

When FDR utilized the model of powerful public corporations, both as Governor and as President, it was so that the government could address enormous challenges swiftly, effectively, and without breaking the backs of taxpayers. It’s the same model the Hudson Valley Power Authority uses. Currently, NYPA is a financially lucrative state corporation not subsidized by taxpayers – its bond rating is six levels higher than Central Hudson’s. This model of state corporations is still very much in use across the country, but in order to make them effective, we need to also strengthen measures of accountability, transparency, and democracy that apply to them. It’s why the Hudson Valley Power Authority comes with these measures, and it’s also why I have also introduced a new bill, the Public Power Democracy Act (A09425), that will expand and democratizes NYPA’s board, ensuring its members represent specific areas of expertise that are necessary to unleash the full potential of NYPA in addressing the supply side of energy affordability."

Please note that NYPA is not a delivery company like Central Hudson. NYPA generates energy, and owns and operates much of the state’s high voltage transmission lines. On the contrary, Central Hudson does not generate energy, it only does delivery – ataking the energy from the grid to end users. Presently, NYPA has seven board members, all appointed by the governor. The newly introduced the Public Power Democracy Act would change that.

The current members of the state energy planning board can be found here:

https://energyplan.ny.gov/The-Board/Board-Members

The recently enacted Public Renewables Transparency Act will add NYPA to this board.