ALBANY, NY - Today, the Senate passed Senator Rachel May’s bill (S2708A), focused on bringing down energy costs for New Yorkers by changing how utilities upgrade the electric grid. The bill requires utility companies seeking to raise rates to build new infrastructure to first consider Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATTs). Also known as grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), these are low-cost software and hardware interventions that increase the capacity of the existing grid. This policy will help deliver more power and lower costs for ratepayers. 

“As energy demand grows, we must bring more electricity onto the grid, but we should try to do it in a way that doesn’t raise costs for ratepayers. Studies have repeatedly shown that we are only actually using our grid at 50% efficiency. That is shameful, and wasteful. This legislation prioritizes more efficient use of the grid through both software and hardware upgrades that can be brought on line more cheaply and quickly than expensive new infrastructure,” said Senator Rachel May. “This is about making sure utilities implement the most cost-effective technologies as they upgrade the grid.” 

Currently, utilities regularly request big rate increases in order to build large-scale transmission projects, a process that often leads to higher costs for consumers - and higher profits for the utilities themselves. Senator May’s bill shifts that dynamic by requiring utilities to first evaluate and use ATTs where practical to maximize the capacity, efficiency, and reliability of existing infrastructure at lower cost. 

A U.S. Department of Energy study of New York’s electric grid found that only half of its capacity is being used. The study found that deploying ATTs on existing transmission lines can unlock unused capacity, ease congestion, and allow lower-cost power to flow, bringing down overall costs. In New York, that could mean tens of millions of dollars in annual savings for ratepayers.