With 36 Hours To Go, Advocates Launch Video Campaign Urging Gov. Hochul To Lower Bills + Repeal 100-Foot Rule!

ALBANY, NY (12/18/2025) (readMedia)-- Today, with just one day until a deadline to repeal the notorious "100-foot rule," advocates are releasing a new video and social media campaign urging Governor Hochul to sign the legislation and save New Yorkers nearly $600 million on their energy bills every year. The video features ratepayers from different New York utility territories, who joined nearly 200 people at the Capitol last week to speak about their sky-high energy bills and call on the Governor to protect them from utilities' continued rate increases. Legislation to repeal the 100-foot rule was sent to the Governor's desk last week, meaning she has until TOMORROW to sign it into law.

Watch the new video here.

"Our energy bills are especially out of control and families are paying way more than they used to for the same amount of heat. Make that make sense!" said Tanisha Logan-Lattimore, a NYSEG ratepayer and member of People for a Healthy Environment and Mothers Out Front.

"All throughout my life, my utilities were shut off... and on and off. But the worst and longest time was when my son was five years old and my elderly grandfather was seventy years old suffering with kidney failure. Our utilities were shut off in the hottest days of August all the way through the coldest days of February... and the utility companies did not care!" said Monique Fitzgerald, a National Grid Long Island ratepayer and member of the Long Island Progressive Coalition.

"Folks can't make their bills so they cut back on their medication when money is tight. If the 100-foot rule goes away, 600 million dollars disappears from our bills. Governor Hochul: you have the power to make this happen!" said Allen Blair, M.D., an RG&E ratepayer and member of Citizens Climate Lobby.

Advocates have stepped up efforts in recent weeks ahead of a potential signing of the bill, with recent rallies in Westchester, Kingston, Rochester, Brooklyn, Queens and Albany to highlight how repealing the 100-foot rule would help New Yorkers in need while protecting our climate.

Already, 1 in 4 New Yorkers are struggling to afford their energy bills - while the Trump administration continues to cut clean energy and energy affordability programs that help families get by. The 100-foot rule is making this crisis worse by allowing utilities to charge New Yorkers more on their energy bills to expand an antiquated, polluting gas system that is already too expensive. Thankfully, Governor Hochul has said she is considering signing the bill - now she has a chance to deliver on her affordability commitment and provide relief for New Yorkers in need.

Background

As the cost of building and maintaining our aging gas infrastructure continues to rise, utilities across the state have raised rates to pass those costs onto customers and keep us tethered to a fracked gas system that is already unaffordable. Since 2022, every major New York gas utility has raised costs on consumers, causing more than 1.2 million families to fall behind on their energy bills.

Even as more families struggle to afford their energy bills, utilities across the state are continuing to raise rates on New Yorkers so they can expand the gas system and bring in record profits. Repealing the 100-foot rule would remove the incentive for utilities to needlessly expand the gas system, which is preventing New York from reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and investing in cleaner, more affordable energy that benefit all New Yorkers.

As energy bills continue to rise across the country, other states are ending similar subsidies for gas utilities. Earlier this year, Massachusetts state regulators issued an order to end their own version of the 100-foot rule, joining California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Maryland as the first states to repeal outdated gas mandates that cost ratepayers more money.