BILL NUMBER: S6491B
SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public service law, in relation to increasing the
transparency of tariff and delivery charges in electricity and natural
gas bills
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To require utility companies to disclose the estimated cost of tariffs
and the primary cost components of delivery charges in customers bills.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 44 of the Public Service law by adding a new
subdivision 8 which requires utilities to include a "tariff cost esti-
mate" in every billing statement that they send to customers. The
"tariff cost estimate" is defined as an estimate of the increase in the
price of the service provided by the utility due to tariffs imposed by
the United States or foreign governments.
Section 1 also adds a new subdivision 9 to section 44 of the Public
Service law which requires utility companies to disclose the primary
cost components of the delivery portion of a customer's bill. The
disclosure must include how much of the delivery charge goes to execu-
tive compensation, repairs and maintenance, depreciation of utility
assets, interest on loans and other debt, rents for facilities and
equipment, property taxes paid to local governments, income taxes on
earnings, shareholder return and payments to the utilities parent compa-
ny.
Section 2 sets forth the effective date which shall be immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Outside of Canada itself, New York State is the largest consumer of
Canadian electricity with 7.7TWh being imported in 2024.
The New York State Independent System Operator (NYISO) is a not-for-pro-
fit corporation responsible for operating the bulk electricity grid and
administering the competitive wholesale electricity market. NYISO moni-
tors the reliability of the state's power system and coordinates the
daily operations to distribute electricity supply. The NYISO provides
open access to New York State's transmission system to allow competitive
generation services. It is interconnected with two Canadian system
operators, Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator and Hydro-
Quebec. Electricity distributed by New York State utility companies
comes from generating plants in New York State, Canada and other states
in the United States.
The actions of the current federal administration to impose tariffs on
foreign goods and services including energy will increase the cost of
electricity and gas in New York because utilities will attempt to pass
these charges along to consumers. Tariffs imposed by Canada or any of
its provinces will likewise increase costs, since utilities will attempt
to pass these charges along as well. The Province of Ontario has already
announced it would be placing tariffs on exports, including energy, to
the United States which includes energy exports to New York State.
However, tariffs are not the only cause of rising utility bills for
consumers. Increased delivery charges have been a driver of utility cost
increases for New Yorkers, yet there is no transparency on what makes up
these charges. Just like with "supply charges," consumers have a right
to know what actual costs are built into the category of "delivery
charges" that appears on their bill.
Ratepayers across the state are already experiencing financial stress
from their utility bills and the additional costs of tariffs and rising
delivery charges will only add to their difficulties.
The goal of this legislation is simple: to provide ratepayers in New
York with increased billing transparency, including the impact of
tariffs and a breakdown of the broad "delivery charge" category.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None. New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S6491: 66 public service law
S6491A: 66 public service law
S6491B: 44 public service law