Over the July 4 weekend, Con Edison intentionally shut off power to parts of Howard Beach, Ozone Park, and Richmond Hill, leaving more than 10,000 residents without electricity. The shutoff was meant to prevent more widespread outages, but the obvious question is: why weren’t these neighborhoods notified in advance that they were scheduled to lose power? While Con Edison distributed dry ice to help preserve food, dry ice doesn’t power oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines, refrigerate medications, or other essential medical equipment.
How is it that, despite having some of the highest utility bills in the country, New Yorkers still can’t be certain they’ll have electricity during a summer heat wave? In my view, the answer lies in New York’s failed energy policies.
In 2019, New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), setting ambitious clean energy goals: 70% renewable electricity by 2030 and a zero-emission electric grid by 2040. While I can appreciate increasing our green energy production (I’m probably one of the few Republicans that drives a Prius Plug-in), these goals are simply unrealistic. Currently, renewable sources provide only about one-third of the state’s electricity.
Rather than focusing on incentivizing private investment in new green energy projects, New York also moved to retire or block existing and planned non-renewable energy projects. A tighter energy supply puts upward pressure on prices, and average pressure on prices, and average residential electricity rates have increased by almost double over the past decade, from about 16.8¢/kWh to 28.6¢/kWh.
At the same time, integrating new renewable generation has required utilities to make significant upgrades to the electric grid, and much of the cost of those investments has been passed on to ratepayers through higher utility bills.
State officials have known for years that this transition would come with significant costs. Internal state analyses projected that residential energy costs could increase by thousands of dollars over time, yet New Yorkers were repeatedly assured that the transition would be affordable and reliable.
Every campaign season, New York’s politicians campaign on standing up to the Governor, the Mayor, or utility companies, but when difficult decisions come before them, they fall in line with party leadership. Candidates love photo ops with powerful politicians or Con Edison crews because they make for good campaign ads. But a photo isn’t leadership. If you’re not willing to challenge the people you’re posing with when they’re wrong, then those photo ops are worth nothing.
When you vote, remember that talk is cheap, but our utility bills aren’t.
Note: Col. Tom Sullivan is the Republican nominee for Assembly District 23.
