Amd §1005, Pub Auth L; add §28, amd §44, Pub Serv L; rpld §349-d, Gen Bus L
 
Provides the New York power authority with the right of first offer and refusal for acquiring any renewable generation facility, renewable energy generation project and any power or energy created by a renewable generation facility or renewable energy generation project; bans non-state run energy services companies; allows the New York power authority to take over and operate as an energy services company.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A443
SPONSOR: Carroll (MS)
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public authorities law and the public service law,
in relation to providing the New York power authority with the right of
first offer and refusal for certain renewable generation facilities and
any power or energy created by such renewable generation facilities;
bans energy services companies; and to repeal certain provisions of the
general business law relating thereto
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL::
To provide the right of first refusal on renewable energy projects to
the New York Power Authority and to ban energy services companies.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section 1 amends Section 1005 of the public authorities law by adding a
new subdivision, 30, which grants the New York Public Power Authority
first refusal rights to purchase any renewable generation facility,
renewable energy generation project or any power or energy created by a
renewable generation facility or renewable energy generation project. It
also adds a new subdivision 31, which allows NYPA the right to sell
energy services to end-use customers.
Section 2 amends the public service law to by adding a new section 28
which defines grounds of first refusal as needed for the previous
section. The New York Power Authority shall be allowed to match the
purchase price of any renewable facility, project, and or and renewably
generated power, and so assume the role of purchaser.
Section 3 repeals provisions of the general business law pertaining to
private energy service companies.
Sections 4 and 5 further delineate NYPA's role and responsibilities in
energy provision and Section 6 makes clear that nothing in the previous
sections is intended to limit, impair, or affect the legal authority of
the power authority of New York under any other provisions of tile 1 of
article 5 of the public authorities law.
Section 4 states the act shall take effect immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION::
With the passage of the CLCPA, New York State has a mandate to scale up
our renewable energy infrastructure. But currently, New York only gets
around 5% of its energy from wind and solar, and most renewable energy
in the state is purchased from Energy Service Companies (ESCOs). ESCOs
employ predatory practices and are nearly always more expensive than
obtaining generation through a utility, overcharging between $30 and $40
million/month. This bill would ban ESCOs and instead allow the New York
Power Authority to build, purchase, and sell affordable 100% renewable
energy to all New Yorkers. NYPA is the Most financially viable entity
for scaling up renewables at the scale needed as it has the lowest cost
of capital, doesn't need to generate a profit for shareholders, and can
make renewable energy aright for all New Yorkers regardless of income,
race, or class. This bill unleashes NYPA, giving it the ability to own
new renewable energy generation and have the right of first offer on all
new generation projects. It commits us to the renewable energy transi-
tion that New York State needs while maintaining democratic oversight of
our energy system.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
A.8937/S.7243 of 2019-20
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS::
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE::
Immediate.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
443
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL, ROZIC, KIM, COLTON, SIMON, DINOWITZ,
DICKENS, WEPRIN, L. ROSENTHAL, CRUZ, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, BURDICK, MITAYNES
-- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. COOK, HYNDMAN -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law and the public service law,
in relation to providing the New York power authority with the right
of first offer and refusal for certain renewable generation facilities
and any power or energy created by such renewable generation facili-
ties; bans energy services companies; and to repeal certain provisions
of the general business law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 1005 of the public authorities law is amended by
2 adding two new subdivisions 30 and 31 to read as follows:
3 30. (a) To purchase, finance, plan, design, engineer, acquire,
4 construct, operate or manage any renewable generation facility, renewa-
5 ble energy generating project, battery energy storage systems, renewable
6 thermal energy technology such as heat pumps, solar thermal, or other
7 heating or cooling technologies using renewable sources of energy that
8 do not emit greenhouse gases, or any power or energy created by a renew-
9 able generation facility or renewable energy generation project under
10 the right of first offer and refusal established under section twenty-
11 eight of the public service law.
12 (b) For purposes of this subdivision, "renewable energy generating
13 project" shall mean a project that generates power and energy by means
14 of renewable energy resources, or that stores and supplies power and
15 energy generated by means of renewable energy resources, and includes
16 the construction, installation and/or operation of ancillary facilities
17 or equipment done in connection with any such renewable energy generat-
18 ing projects, provided, however, that such term shall not include the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00334-01-3
A. 443 2
1 authority's Saint Lawrence hydroelectric project or Niagara hydroelec-
2 tric project.
3 31. To sell or provide energy services to end-use customers using the
4 transmission or distribution system of a utility. Any power or energy
5 sold under this subdivision shall be made entirely from renewable energy
6 resources. For the purposes of this subdivision, "renewable energy
7 resources" means solar power, wind power, hydroelectric, and any other
8 generation resource authorized by any renewable energy standard adopted
9 by the state for the purpose of implementing any state clean energy
10 standard.
11 § 2. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 28 to
12 read as follows:
13 § 28. New York power authority right of first offer and refusal. The
14 New York power authority, as established by title one of article five of
15 the public authorities law, shall be allowed to match the purchase price
16 of any renewable generation facility, renewable energy generation
17 project and any power or energy created by a renewable generation facil-
18 ity or renewable energy generation project. In the event that such
19 authority matches such purchase price, such authority shall assume the
20 role of purchaser of the renewable generation facility, renewable energy
21 generation project or any power or energy created by a renewable gener-
22 ation facility or renewable energy generation project.
23 § 3. Section 349-d of the general business law is REPEALED.
24 § 4. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 27 of section 1005 of the public
25 authorities law, as added by section 2 of part LL of chapter 58 of the
26 laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
27 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, as deemed
28 feasible and advisable by the trustees, the authority is authorized to
29 undertake the following actions when it deems it necessary or desirable
30 to address the energy-related needs of any (i) authority customer, (ii)
31 public entity, or (iii) CCA community:
32 (1) (A) supply power and energy procured from competitive market
33 sources to any (i) authority customer, (ii) public entity, or (iii) CCA
34 community through the supply of such products through an [energy
35 services company or other] entity that is authorized by the public
36 service commission to procure and sell energy products to participants
37 of a CCA program, provided, however, that the authority shall not supply
38 at any point more than a total of four hundred megawatts of power and
39 energy to authority customers and public entities pursuant to the
40 authority of this clause;
41 (B) supply renewable power, energy, or related credits or attributes
42 procured through a competitive process, from competitive market sources,
43 or through negotiation when a competitive procurement is not reasonably
44 feasible and such products can be procured on reasonably competitive
45 terms to (i) any authority customer, (ii) any public entity, or (iii)
46 any CCA community through the supply of such products through an [energy
47 services company or other] entity that is authorized by the public
48 service commission to procure and sell energy products to participants
49 of a CCA program; and
50 (2) (A) alone or jointly with one or more other entities, finance the
51 development of renewable energy generating projects that are located in
52 the state, including its territorial waters, and/or on property or in
53 waters under the jurisdiction or regulatory authority of the United
54 States, (B) purchase power, energy or related credits or attributes
55 produced from such renewable energy generating projects, and (C) allo-
56 cate and sell any such products to (i) any authority customer, (ii) any
A. 443 3
1 public entity, and (iii) any CCA community through [an] a not-for-profit
2 energy services company or other entity that is authorized by the public
3 service commission to procure and sell energy products to participants
4 of a CCA program, provided that the authority shall not, pursuant to the
5 authority in this subparagraph, finance more than six renewable energy
6 generation projects and have a per-project electric generating capacity
7 in excess of twenty-five megawatts.
8 § 5. Subdivision 5 of section 44 of the public service law, as added
9 by chapter 359 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
10 5. At least once a year, every utility corporation, not-for-profit
11 energy services company or municipality shall provide its customers with
12 a notice that billing statements are available in large print format.
13 Upon written request by a customer, a utility corporation, not-for-pro-
14 fit energy services company or municipality shall provide the customer's
15 billing statements in the large print format commencing no later than
16 sixty days after the date upon which the request is received by the
17 utility corporation[, energy services company] or municipality. The
18 provisions of this subdivision shall apply only to printed statements.
19 For the purposes of this section, "large print" shall mean a printed
20 font size of sixteen or greater to illuminate billing information. For
21 the purposes of this section, "not-for-profit energy services company"
22 or "not-for-profit ESCO" shall mean [an] a not-for-profit entity eligi-
23 ble to sell energy services to end-use customers using the transmission
24 or distribution system of a utility corporation.
25 § 6. Nothing in this act is intended to limit, impair, or affect the
26 legal authority of the power authority of the state of New York under
27 any other provision of title 1 of article 5 of the public authorities
28 law.
29 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
30 ments to subdivision 27 of section 1005 of the public authorities law
31 made by section four of this act shall not affect the repeal of such
32 subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith.