120+ Local Electeds Urge Albany Leadership to Help Constituents, Lower Bills By Passing NY HEAT Act in Budget

ALBANY, NY (04/22/2025) (readMedia)-- Today, more than 120 elected officials from across New York State sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie urging them to include the NY HEAT Act in this year's state budget. The letter was signed by local elected officials from across the state, including in Long Island, Rochester, Albany, Hudson Valley, Westchester, New York City, and more.

The NY HEAT Act would limit the amount households are forced to pay for heat, alleviate rate hikes happening across the state, and save families who need help most an average of $136 each month on their bills. The Senate included the bill in their one-house budget - now it's on the Assembly to deliver for families in need.

Read the full letter below and attached.

"Every day we hear from constituents who are struggling with bills they can't afford, and which are only going up year after year. Albany lawmakers need to pass legislation that will actually lower our energy bills. We cannot wait any longer, which is why we are urging Albany lawmakers - especially the Assembly - to pass the NY HEAT Act in this year's budget," said Monroe County Legislator Susan Hughes-Smith.

In the letter, local lawmakers write, "With all NY HEAT does to protect families, create jobs, increase equity, limit climate change, and make it possible to meet state law requirements, NY HEAT deserves your strong commitment. We urge that you include NY HEAT in the State Budget."

Background

As of September 2024, approximately 1 in 7 households in New York was two months or more behind on their energy bills. This crisis is impacting more than 1.2 million families, who are collectively in debt more than $1.3 billion dollars to utilities. According to a recent report from AGREE, since 2022, every major gas utility in New York State has raised the cost of energy for their customers:

• For Con Edison customers, the average monthly cost of gas heating has increased by nearly $50 since 2022 - from $205 to $253.
• For National Grid customers in NYC, the average monthly cost of gas heating has increased by more than $60 between 2023 and 2026 - from $110 to $172. For National Grid customers in Long Island, the average monthly cost of gas heating will increase by nearly the same amount - from $105 to $165.
• For Central Hudson customers, the average monthly cost of gas heating has increased more than $20 since 2022- from $138 to $157.
• For National Fuel Gas customers, the average monthly cost of gas heating has increased by nearly $15 - from $81 to $94 - since just 2023.

The Home Energy Affordable Transition Act, also known as the NY HEAT Act, will reduce the expansion of New York's outdated and dangerous fracked gas system and save the 1 in 4 New Yorkers who struggle to pay their energy bills an average of $136 every month. The bill modernizes archaic state laws that force New Yorkers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year to subsidize new fracked gas hookups and pipelines. It would limit households' energy burdens and would allow utilities to provide cheaper and clean heating alternatives at no additional cost to customers – a win-win for New Yorkers and the environment.

The NY HEAT Act will also free New Yorkers from the 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. Because of the gas mandate, one home that wants to stay on the gas system can be the deciding factor for an entire neighborhood that would otherwise have the opportunity to receive cheaper, cleaner heating alternatives from their utility. The NY HEAT Act would require utilities to provide easy access to the most affordable and healthier heating options for their families.

According to a Siena Poll, New Yorkers agree by an overwhelming 58% to 26% that the legislature should pass the NY HEAT Act. Support for the NY HEAT Act is popular across party lines, with 67% of Democrats, 47% of Republicans, and 55% of independents agreeing it should pass. The bill is also popular with 60% of upstate voters, 55% of union households, and across income groups. 74% of Black voters and 70% of Latino voters also support the legislation. An even larger share, 51 - 17%, said that lawmakers did not do enough to improve the quality of life during last year's legislative session.

State action against climate change is crucial as Trump takes office and vows to go all-in on fossil fuels. 2024 was the hottest year on record, and New Yorkers experienced wildfires, flooding, and tornadoes. The NY HEAT Act will help New York fight climate change and it will protect New Yorkers from an unpredictable Trump administration by helping to stabilize heat and energy prices.

Read the Letter to Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie

New York State Capitol Building

Albany, NY 12224

April 22, 2025

Dear Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Heastie, and Members of the Senate and Assembly,

We, the undersigned elected officials, urge you to include the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act in the State Budget in order to address the growing energy affordability crisis faced by our constituents.

NY HEAT provides critical energy bill relief in three ways:

1. NY HEAT limits energy bills to six percent of household income. The average household currently paying more than 6% will save $136 per month on their energy bills[1] with NY HEAT. Currently, one in four families can not afford their monthly energy bill and the collective debt to utilities from New York families is $1.3 billion[2].
2. NY HEAT ends line extension allowances. Currently, existing gas customers pay to expand the gas system. New York families pay at least $200 million[3] a year to subsidize new gas hookups.
3. NY HEAT ends the gas mandate avoiding billions of dollars of future spending on gas pipes and unlocking the use of those funds for upgrading homes.

The gas utilities keep raising delivery costs and the PSC keeps approving these rate increases. We are told that without amending the obligation to serve, there's little the regulators can do to curb the rising cost of gas delivery. The people in our communities need NY HEAT, we need to free families and seniors from these burdens and direct funds into clean home energy upgrades that improve quality of life and lower bills.

NY HEAT addresses conflicts between state laws and goals on energy, climate, and equity and to secure these benefits and makes our statewide climate and equity laws attainable. Buildings are New York's largest source of climate pollution, with burning of fossil fuels for space and water heating and cooking making up one-third of emissions in the state[4]. That fossil fuel combustion also creates additional pollution that is harmful to health, including causing childhood asthma. The air pollution disproportionately affects people of color and lower income people, who also bear more of the impacts of climate change. Meanwhile, the number of climate disasters, fires, floods, heat waves, and bad air days our communities face each year is climbing[5]. We can not delay action on climate and equity.

With all NY HEAT does to protect families, create jobs, increase equity, limit climate change, and make it possible to meet state law requirements, NY HEAT deserves your strong commitment. We urge that you include NY HEAT in the State Budget.