Background

We pay our utility companies every month for the electricity that we depend on. But even though we keep paying more, the utility system is just getting worse and worse. Rates are rising, it’s getting harder and harder for us to pay our bills, and the electricity that we pay for is becoming dirtier, not cleaner, as the state stalls progress on meeting its climate targets and continues to rely on polluting fossil fuels. 

The good news is that there are existing programs to make sure lower income and middle income New Yorkers can manage their bills. The bad news is that these programs are severely under-enrolled, which means people aren’t getting the relief they’re already entitled to—the state’s existing programs are only serving about half of the customers who are entitled to these programs. We need the state to do a lot more to support affordable, clean energy.