Overview
- Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday that the Protecting Our Wallets Energy Rebate will begin mailing checks starting Sept. 21 and continue through December to about 8.2 million qualifying households.
- Payments will be issued automatically by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance using 2024 resident tax returns with no application required; joint filers under $150,000 get $200, joint filers $150,000–$300,000 get $150, and single filers under $150,000 get $100.
- Hochul directed a new statewide enrollment push for the Energy Affordability Program to reach roughly 2.5 million additional households that could receive recurring discounts of up to about $500 a year.
- The rebates are paired with budget changes that require utilities to justify capital projects, bar certain lobbying and PR costs from being passed to ratepayers, tie executive pay to affordability goals, and create oversight to probe high energy prices.
- Republican leaders and some watchdogs criticized the timing and size of the one-time checks ahead of the November election, while the administration points to New York’s high residential electricity rates of about 29.9 cents per kWh and budget surplus allocations as the rationale and funding source.