Albany, N.Y., March 31-State Senator Tom O’Mara and members of the Senate Minority Conference today sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul urging the governor to demand the inclusion of two pieces of legislation in this year’s final state budget that would provide immediate relief to New York’s utility ratepayers continuing to face skyrocketing costs.

The Senate minority conference letter (see attached copy) reads, in part, “Since you became Governor in 2021, $88.7 billion has been invested in clean energy programs with the funding mainly paid by ratepayers on their utility bills. The arrears numbers indicate that ratepayer funding has reached its capacity. Immediate relief needs to be made available to ratepayers. The energy transition needs to move forward with reasonable and achievable goals that are affordable. The ratepayer cannot bear the whole burden.”

Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt said, “For years, the Senate Minority Conference has consistently advocated for the repeal of the CLCPA because we see it for what it is - an unnecessary and extremely expensive burden on ratepayers. Given the chance to take action and provide real relief, Albany majorities instead doubled down on their out-of-touch climate policies, favoring radical environmentalists instead of standing up for struggling New Yorkers. These initiatives to provide relief to ratepayers must be a priority in the final budget.”

O'Mara, a member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, said, "It's irresponsible for New York State to go on asking ratepayers to bear the burden of what’s become a questionable climate agenda. Ratepayers need relief now. It should be a priority in this budget to utilize at least $3 billion of unspent funds sitting in NYSERDA's bank account or in a utility's coffers and return it to the ratepayers to help offset the significant increases in the cost of electricity in this state, over a 50% increase since the majorities in Albany enacted the CLCPA. The bottom line on any existing surplus must be to provide relief to ratepayers."

Senator Rob Rolison, SD 39, said, “New Yorkers are looking for relief they can actually feel in their monthly bills. That’s why it’s critical we take immediate action to ease the burden on families by advancing real solutions like a utility tax holiday and returning excess funds back to ratepayers. These proposals are practical, targeted, and ready to go—and they belong in this year’s budget. Every day we delay is another day New Yorkers are forced to shoulder unnecessarily high energy costs.”

The first piece of legislation the Senate Minority Conference wants included in this year’s budget, S.8461A, is sponsored by O’Mara and would provide nearly $3 billion in bill credits to ratepayers using unspent funds collected from ratepayers by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) with state Public Service Commission (PSC) approval for green energy projects. The Fiscal Year 2025 Budget and Financial Plan for NYSERDA detailed that NYSERDA had more than $2 billion of these unspent funds at the end of 2025. There was also $770 million being held in escrow by utilities for requisition by NYSERDA at the end of 2025, according to the Department of Public Service.

The second measure, S.8463, sponsored by Rolison, would establish a one-year utility bill tax and surcharge holiday and a two-year green energy gas tax holiday, which would provide immediate and meaningful relief to ratepayers paying residential electric rates 50% higher than the national average.

The call for the inclusion of these pieces of legislation in the final enacted budget comes on the heels of a recent NYSERDA memo warning of increases in utility costs in order to keep up with the green energy mandates laid out in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) of 2019. 

The Senate Minority letter reads, “The amount of unspent funds collected by NYSERDA has grown significantly since Comptroller DiNapoli first pointed to this overcollection in his July 2024 report New York State’s Clean Energy Fund. These funds should not continue to be held to protect against the volatility of collections particularly as the collections are continuous and replenish needed funds. These funds have no impact on the proposed state budget.”