Today in Albany, Assembly Members Jeffrey Dinowitz, Amy Paulin, Steve Englebright and Brian Kavanagh, the respective chairs of the Committees on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, Energy, Environmental Conservation, and Consumer Affairs and Protection, held a press conference condemning the Public Service Commission’s lack of transparency regarding the Zero-Emissions Credit program that will take effect on April 1, 2017.

On March 6th these committee chairs held a joint hearing to review the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) program as part of the Clean Energy Standard. This standard sets out a roadmap for the state to meet the “50 by 30” goal of generating at least 50% of New York State's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030, and to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by that same year. The hearing was intended to provide New York ratepayers with the opportunity to learn more about the ZEC program and the potential impact on utility costs. However, PSC officials failed to appear at this hearing. Their unwillingness to engage in a public discussion about the process by which they arrived at the final program has left more than a few legislators asking questions.

“In what was essentially a bait and switch, the Public Service Commission unilaterally decided to use the social cost of carbon instead of the operating costs of these plants as the basis for determining the size of the subsidy, and it was no coincidence that they did so after the period of public participation and comment had ended. The Assembly and the public were led to believe that the cost of this program would be significantly less and the Commission’s seemingly deliberate lack of transparency and public accountability, including their refusal to release the cost review that led them to this $7.6 billion, has given me the impression that this program is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to implement corporate welfare,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions.

"The Legislature, and more importantly, the public, was denied the opportunity to fully evaluate the Commission's ZEC proposal, which was dramatically increased to a cost of $965 million in the first two years alone. Today, only days away from the start of the program, we still do not have information on why this change occurred or what it means for future years. The State, under the Governor's leadership, is moving forward to make New York the leader in greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and New Yorkers should have the opportunity to hear the full story," said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Energy.

“Long Island has one of the highest electric rates in the nation due in large part to assuming the total costs of the shuttered Shoreham nuclear plant. To further burden Long Island and downstate ratepayers with an additional rate increase to bail out upstate nuclear plants is unfair and unreasonable. The PSC must unseal the record of cost review for the nuclear plants so that the basis for the amount in subsidies Excelon is receiving can be opened to public examination and the public can see the profits this company will be making.” said Assembly Member Englebright, chair of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation.