news release
WATERTOWN, NY — Assemblyman Scott Gray (R-Watertown), ranking member on the Assembly Standing Committee on Energy, today pointed to a new statewide poll from the Empire Center for Public Policy showing that New Yorkers prioritize low energy prices above all else, and the message could not be clearer. For households across the state, and especially here in the North Country, the cost of utilities is their most pressing concern.
“When we ask people what matters most, the answer is not abstract climate targets or mandates handed down from Albany. It is the utility bill sitting on the kitchen table,” said Gray. “Affordability is not one issue among many. It is the issue. Everything else runs through it.”
The poll also revealed deep resistance to the electrification of home heating. Statewide, 63% of respondents oppose home heating electrification, compared with just 30% who support it, with opposition exceeding support across nearly every demographic group, including voters with no party affiliation, who oppose it 66% to 25%. Gray said that should surprise no one who has lived through a Northeast winter.
“In a region where temperatures routinely fall below zero and stay there, people are not going to gamble their family’s warmth on a single fuel source and a grid that is already under strain,” Gray said. “Our residents understand something the current policy direction does not. Reliability and affordability aren’t merely part of a good energy policy; they are the definition of it, and single-source grids can’t provide that for ratepayers.”
Gray noted that delivery side costs tied to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) are now a primary driver of rate increases, and that ratepayers are being asked to fund a buildout whose full price has never been honestly presented to the public.
“This is what happens when public policy is rammed through without proper public input and vetting. Policy gets written to a timeline instead of to the reality on the ground, and the people paying the bills are the last ones consulted,” Gray said. “I have said all along that I support an all-of-the-above energy strategy, including hydro, advanced nuclear and renewables where they make sense. What I cannot support is a mandate-driven approach that prices working families and seniors out of staying warm in their own homes.”
Gray said he will continue to press for reforms that put ratepayers first, including beneficiary pays cost allocation, honest accounting of CLCPA costs and protecting consumer choice in home heating.
“The public has spoken, and they have spoken clearly,” Gray concluded. “Now it is Albany’s turn to listen.”