\u201cMassive data centers are driving up electricity demand<\/a> faster than the grid can keep up, pushing costs onto working families and small businesses who can\u2019t afford higher bills,\u201d Hochul said in a statement to The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile New York continues to lead in attracting new technologies, we must grow responsibly, ensuring affordability comes first and those profiting from data growth pay their fair share,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hochul will discuss her proposal in her 2026 State of the State address on Tuesday, saying she will ask the state utilities regulator, the Public Service Commission, to set up an \u201cEnergy NY Development\u201d program.<\/p>\n The program would make it easier for large energy users to connect to the electrical grid, but with strict conditions to protect other ratepayers.<\/p>\n Industries will pay more for their energy needs or supply their own, the governor said.<\/p>\n The price structure will be determined by the PSC, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Hochul, a Democrat seeking re-election amid outrage over ever growing utility bills <\/a>and the high cost of living in New York, has walked back some mandates to comply with New York\u2019s ambitious green energy law \u2014 the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n The state\u2019s landmark climate law aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2050 by phasing out fossil-fuel burning vehicles and power plants \u2014 and requires zero emissions for energy generation by 2040.<\/p>\n To the chagrin of climate-change fighting environmentalists, Hochul has steadily walked back parts of the climate law.<\/p>\n She delayed a controversial \u201ccap and invest\u201d <\/a>program last year that critics warned would send gas and home-heating oil prices soaring.<\/p>\n In November, Hochul greenlit a controversial, President Trump-backed natural-gas pipeline <\/a>off the Big Apple\u2019s coast and stalled a gas stove ban <\/a>for newly built homes.<\/p>\n Hochul, in a letter accompanying the state\u2019s updated energy plan last month, argued New York needed to readjust its carbon-free approach \u2014 especially because of potentially catastrophic energy shortages.<\/p>\n \u201cI will not risk rolling blackouts or gas outages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The PSC asked Con Edison to devise a plan to address the reliability of the Big Apple\u2019s grid \u2014 after frightening concerns about the potential for blackouts came to light.<\/p>\n The move followed stark warnings from the independent operator of the Empire State\u2019s electric grid that increased electricity demand and decreasing fossil fuel generation capacity may lead to power outages in New York City as soon as next summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a real power play. Gov. Hochul wants AI and other computer data centers that devour huge amounts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[66,288,7442,4762,19475,426,57,9,24,55,54,56,10877,37778,2157,58],"class_list":["post-97306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-business","tag-electricity","tag-energy","tag-green-energy","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-power","tag-public-service-commission","tag-renewable-energy","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Governor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/010926-woodbury-ny-governor-kathy-118573347_c2768d.jpg\")
Gov. Kathy Hochul has called on AI and computer data centers to pay more for electricity. Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/general-view-electricity-substation-power-108745323.jpg\")
Hochul told The Post in a statement that data centers are driving up the demand for electricity beyond what the state\u2019s power grid can keep up with. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n