ALBANY, New York (WWNY) – As utility bills skyrocket and New Yorkers get upset, Gov. Kathy Hochul is looking for changes to the state\u2019s climate policy, which many have said will cause power bills to continue to go up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Public Service Commission said 1.4 million people are in arrears, haven\u2019t paid their utility bill in 60 days or more. That was in December. We finally went up to the cliff, and people are falling off of it,\u201d said Sen. Mark Walczyk (R. -49th District).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s rising utility costs that have the governor rethinking how quickly the state needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, an idea she mentioned in an opinion piece through news outlet Empire Report.<\/p>\n
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority found the state\u2019s current plans to make renewable energy sources generate 70% of New York electricity by 2030 will cost more than $4,000 a year for upstate oil and natural gas customers, and gas prices could jump another couple of dollars.<\/p>\n
How much change the governor is proposing isn\u2019t known.<\/p>\n
State Assemblyman Scott Gray says it\u2019s the Climate Act that\u2019s been contributing heavily to utility cost hikes in extra fees, and what the governor wants to do doesn\u2019t help in the short term.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are struggling right now with costs, and I thought it would address what people are experiencing right now, so it\u2019s a little underwhelming,\u201d said Gray (R.-116th District).<\/p>\n
The high utility prices are also affecting local schools. Sixteen local superintendents signed a joint resolution sent to the governor, fed up with rising costs taking funding away from critical school needs and asking for change.<\/p>\n
Walczyk says Hochul\u2019s plan to reduce ratepayer costs in the long term isn\u2019t wholly bad, but believes this may be a bid for votes in an election year. Instead, he wants $2 billion collected by the state for climate change initiatives to be given back to customers as a rebate.<\/p>\n
\u201cNYSERDA has said that that money is \u2018committed,\u2019 but has provided nothing to us publicly about where the dollars are committed, what projects they\u2019re going to, and what\u2019s in the hopper, and every single month people are continuing, through their utility bills, to pump money into the clean energy fund,\u201d Walczyk said.<\/p>\n
Energy will likely be debated fully as the state tries to pass a budget by April 1.<\/p>\n
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