Add §66-x, Pub Serv L; add §1005-e, Pub Auth L; add §85, St Fin L
Requires the public service commission establish a grid modernization surcharge imposed on utilities for the energy use of data centers and high-intensity data centers which meet a specified threshold of electricity or information-technology load; establishes the grid modernization fund to finance investments in system reliability, capacity expansion, and integration of clean energy resources.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8546
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
October 24, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the public service law and the public authorities law,
in relation to establishing a grid modernization surcharge; and to
amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the grid
modernization fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section
2 66-x to read as follows:
3 § 66-x. Grid modernization surcharge. 1. For the purposes of this
4 section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "Data center" means any facility with an information-technology
6 (IT) load exceeding ten megawatts (MW) of electrical demand, used prima-
7 rily for the storage, management, processing, or transmission of digital
8 information; and
9 (b) "High-intensity data center" means a data center with an annual
10 power-usage effectiveness (PUE) greater than 1.3 or an annual electric-
11 ity consumption exceeding 50 gigawatt-hours.
12 2. (a) The commission shall by regulation establish a grid moderniza-
13 tion surcharge to be collected by each electric corporation from every
14 covered data center account as a separate line item on the customer
15 bill. The commission shall set the surcharge as a rate per kilowatt-hour
16 or per megawatt-hour billed to such accounts and may differentiate by
17 voltage level or service class.
18 (b) A covered data center that demonstrates, through independent
19 verification acceptable to the commission, that at least ninety percent
20 of its annual electricity consumption is met by renewable resources
21 under contracts that meet commission-established additionality and
22 deliverability criteria may receive a partial or full reduction of the
23 surcharge.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13962-03-5
S. 8546 2
1 (c) The commission shall require each electric corporation to file
2 tariff riders implementing this section and shall establish verifica-
3 tion, auditing, and penalty provisions for non-compliance.
4 3. No utility shall impose or pass the surcharge established pursuant
5 to subdivision two of this section to any customer. Amounts collected
6 pursuant to this section shall be billed only to covered data center
7 accounts and shall not be recovered from any other customer classes.
8 4. (a) Every utility shall prepare an annual report on collections,
9 expenditures, and measurable system improvements, outage frequency,
10 congestion frequency, or renewable capacity interconnection rates and
11 submit such report to the commission.
12 (b) The commission shall submit an annual public report to the gover-
13 nor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the
14 assembly summarizing total collections, disbursements from the grid
15 modernization fund, project status, and quantified outcomes including
16 reliability indices, congestion relief, added hosting capacity, and
17 interconnection processing times.
18 5. Any funds collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited
19 into the grid modernization fund established pursuant to section eight-
20 y-five of the state finance law to finance investments in system reli-
21 ability, capacity expansion, and integration of clean energy resources.
22 § 2. The public authorities law is amended by adding a new section
23 1005-e to read as follows:
24 § 1005-e. Grid modernization surcharge. 1. The authority shall adopt
25 and enforce an equivalent surcharge for covered data center customers
26 served by the authority and shall remit all receipts to the grid modern-
27 ization fund. The authority shall coordinate with the public service
28 commission to ensure consistency with regulations adopted under section
29 sixty-six-x of the public service law.
30 2. Such surcharge shall be deposited into the grid modernization fund
31 established pursuant to section eighty-five of the state finance law.
32 § 3. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 85 to
33 read as follows:
34 § 85. Grid modernization fund. 1. There is hereby established in the
35 joint custody of the state comptroller and the public service commis-
36 sion, a special fund to be known as the "grid modernization fund".
37 2. Such fund shall consist of all moneys collected pursuant to subdi-
38 vision two of section sixty-six-x of the public service law. Nothing
39 contained in this section shall prevent the state from receiving grants,
40 gifts, or bequests for the purposes of the fund as defined in this
41 section and depositing them into the fund according to law.
42 3. Monies of the fund shall be expended only to finance investments in
43 system reliability, capacity expansion, and integration of clean energy
44 resources.
45 4. Monies shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of
46 the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the public service
47 commission.
48 § 4. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
49 law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
50 rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its
51 effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
52 effective date.
