County Leaders Study Growing Energy Needs

By New York State Association of Counties - Apr 02, 2026

By Joe Mahoney

New York is facing rising demand for electricity while its power generation stations are aging at the same time it needs the ability to tap energy resources quickly to maintain the reliability of its grid.

County government officials from across the state were provided with a detailed breakdown of the current challenges at a workshop held during NYSAC's annual Legislative Conference.

In her presentation, Stephanie Amann, senior manager for regulatory and government affairs at the New York Independent Service Operator, the organization that oversees the power grid in the state, said rising electricity supply charges are being driven by macroeconomic forces -- cost of fuel, supply chain constraints, declining capacity and increased demand.

The January polar vortex, Amann said, pushed natural gas prices in New York higher, impacting electricity prices.

"Wholesale price of electricity is determined by several prices, including fuel prices, weather and operating conditions on the high-voltage electric system," Amann noted.

Her report highlighted the fact that more than 25 percent of New York's fuel-based generation has been in operation for more than 50 years.

"As equipment ages, it is more prone to breakdowns and failure," Amann said.

But the oldest generating units in the state's fleet remain "essential," she pointed out, because they support reliability during periods of peak demand, helping to avert outages.

Attendees also learned about the state's energy planning goals from Vanessa Ulmer, associate director for policy development at NYSERDA.

The authority plays a key role in overseeing the state Energy Plan, in consultation with a broad array of other state agencies, including the Public Service Commission, Empire State Development and representatives of the two chambers of the state Legislature.

"After decades of flat sales, electricity demand is forecast to grow significantly through 2040," Ulmer said in her presentation.

"Ongoing planning processes and adaptable strategies are key to meeting this demand reliably and at reasonable cost, while making progress toward a zero-emission grid," she added.

A few days after the workshop, Gov. Kathy Hochul called for significant amendments to the state's Climate Law, calling for enforcement of emission-reduction regulations to be put on hold until 2030.

"With energy demand growing and the state having retired far more fossil fuel plants than it’s been able to replace with renewable sources, our electric system operator is projecting potential energy shortages, particularly downstate, that could lead to brownouts and blackouts," the governor explained.

Her pivot won applause from the Business Council of New York, while environmental groups decried the pullback from deadlines aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels.

The workshop session on energy sparked some lively discussions, reflecting the contentious debate over policy playing out in the chambers of the state Legislature.

Tompkins County Legislator Irene Weiser, chair of her county's Planning, Energy and Environmental Quality Committee, questioned the need for significant capacity payments to power generators. The payments are intended to ensure adequate power supply during times of peak demand, though they have been cited as a component of rising electricity rates.

"It's really not well-publicized how much we're paying for this, and it's part of our bills every month," Weiser said following the workshop. "We pay them just to be on hold, and it's in the billions of dollars a year."

A member of the Wyoming County Board of Supervisors, Covington Supervisor Nathan Rudgers, said he would like to see more attention paid to the state's mix of energy sources in order to strike "a balance that needs to be addressed."

"If you want to really hit the demand target while improving the resiliency of the grid, we really need a significant amount of new investment in renewable sources but also matching that with investment in gas-driven sources," said Rudgers, who served as the state agriculture commissioner under former Gov. George Pataki.

Rudgers noted that New York has an abundance of Pennsylvania shale gas at its doorstep.

"If we were to run a transmission spine across the Southern Tier, opening up marginal farmland for solar and wind development and opening up the opportunity to generate electricity locally with natural gas turbines and planning it for scale, that would be a pretty interesting approach," Rudgers said.