Requires battery energy storage system owners and operators to demonstrate compliance with workforce reliability standards as a condition of state financial assistance; extends prevailing wage requirements and whistleblower protections to operations and maintenance employees at covered battery energy storage systems; directs the public service commission to promulgate implementing regulations; and requires a periodic review of implementation.
Enacts the "home utility weatherization jobs act"; requires each gas corporation, electric corporation, or combination gas or electric corporation to submit to the public service commission for review and approval at least one and up to ten neighborhood scale weatherization and electrification-ready projects.
Directs the public service commission, in consultation with the New York State energy research and development authority, to create an agrivoltaics incentive program to support agrivoltaic projects designed to maximize agricultural and environmental co-benefits.
This legislation mandates that gas and electric utility companies provide written notice to customers at least thirty days before any service rate or charge increases take effect. The public service commission would be required to enforce this notification rule for all affected customers. The notice must specify that the higher cost will begin after the thirty-day period concludes. Should the bill pass, the requirement would become effective immediately upon enactment.
Requires utility service providers to disclose planned rate increases to consumers within thirty days before a planned price increase takes effect; requires utility providers to provide contact information and a mechanism to cancel service completely.
Relates to small business energy assistance and advocacy services; establishes the small business energy assistance and advocacy services program within the division for small-business; authorizes the division for small-business to initiate complaints to the public service commission regarding gas and electricity and steam heat.
Prohibits public utilities from passing along the cost of site investigation and remediation efforts on to rate payers; requires each public utility with more than seventy-five thousand customers to submit to the public service commission an annual report containing a description of any expenses that may not be included or incorporated in the public utility's operating expenses.
Allows surplus or uncommitted funds in the New York state climate investment account to be returned to ratepayers; establishes a one-year utility bill tax and surcharge holiday and a two-year green energy tax holiday; relates to audits of utility corporations; authorizes the public service commission to reconsider rate increases; grants customers the right to decline smart meters and prohibits such customers from being penalized or charged exercising such right; directs the public service commission to conduct a study analyzing the economic impact of the use of smart meters; relates to costs and expenses of the department of public service and the public service commission; directs the public service commission to develop a formula to determine the average cost to comply with the provisions set forth in article seventy-five of the environmental conservation law; provides for a ratepayer protection tax credit; repeals certain provisions of law relating to the assessment of costs and expenses of the department of public service and the public service commission.
Requires certain investor-owned gas or electric corporations to refund ratepayers when their achieved return on equity exceeds authorized rates of return by fifty percent.
Authorizes gas or electrical corporations to submit proposals to the public service commission establishing a voluntary rate or rates for energy supplied to residential customers utilizing heat pumps as the primary heating source.
