Gas Companies Launch "Your Bills, Our Profits" Campaign to Emphasize Urgent Need for Higher Utility Billls

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ALBANY, NY (04/01/2025) (readMedia)-- As advocates and elected officials push for the NY HEAT Act in the budget, legislation that would lower utility bills and stop unnecessary fossil fuel subsidies, gas executives are responding today by launching a "Your Bills, Our Profits" campaign, aiming to educate the public about the vulnerable, sympathetic Wall Street investors, fund managers and fossil fuel executives who rely on outsized profits from utility customers to maintain their lifestyles. This campaign for higher bills follows the industry's push against the NY HEAT Act last week which, for some reason, didn't achieve much traction despite advocating for one of the most pressing issues on struggling New Yorkers' minds: protecting domestic natural gas (see photo attached).

"The NY HEAT Act might protect consumers, but it would absolutely devastate the Unnecessary Pipeline Finance industry. What if we started protecting consumers from other unnecessary spending that they pay for but don't control? Where would it stop?" said a concerned fossil fuel executive.

"For every 100,000 consumers who don't want high gas bills, there is at least one fossil fuel executive who does need a higher profit, and behind that executive is a private equity firm manager or a major shareholder whose second home renovation might depend on it," said a representative for Profits Are Paramount, a grassroots organization of executives, shareholders and fund managers pushing for public awareness of their plight.

NOT APRIL FOOL'S BACKGROUND ABOUT THE NY HEAT ACT

Today, as the fossil fuel industry launches this new campaign, National Grid is introducing the second of its three rate hikes on families in Brooklyn and on Long Island, charging the average family over $40 more per month for the same service. Their newest rate hike will be followed by an additional increase in 2026, raising rates to more than $60 each month over today's prices for the same heat.

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.