In 2025, utilities requested a record $31 billion in rate increases, according to the recent PowerLines report, Utility Bills Are Rising: Q1 2026, conducted in partnership with market research firm Ipsos. And there seems to be no end in sight with the report finding that utilities filed $9.4 billion in rate requests across more than 81 million customers in the first quarter of this year alone.
Government oversight of utilities may be the answer, with the report stating that 76% of Americans surveyed found to support oversight in order to bring down costs. Yet the authors note that many remain skeptical that policy solutions can lower their energy costs.
Smart state policy; however, as evidenced by the recent passage of New York’s FY2026 budget, can drive increased adoption of distributed energy with a goal of reducing costs for all ratepayers.
A myriad of drivers are behind higher energy costs, according to the PowerLines report, including higher returns on capital projects such as power plants and transmission lines, inflation, rising operating costs, aging infrastructure, and severe weather.
The study found that utilities are opting to build new, capital-intensive infrastructure at an estimated $1.4 trillion in capital expenditures (CapEx) by 2030, a 21% increase over the 5-year planned capital spending amount from the previous year. PowerLines analysts note in the report that policymakers could instead incentivize utilities to find ways to improve the efficiency of the existing grid before turning to capital spending.
“Power bills have been rising relentlessly for the past five years and are now reaching a crisis stage. There are many reasons, but politicians who ignore this issue are sleeping on a volcano,” said former FERC Chair Mark Christie.
The New York example
New York is already a pro-solar state, ranking 7th in country for installed solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Yet it’s not resting on its laurels as the state’s FY2027 budget makes new commitments to New York’s rooftop and community solar programs, including passage of the Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power (ASAP) Act.
According to the New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA), ASAP has three goals:
“The passage of the ASAP Act in this budget sends a clear message…[it] will address the energy affordability crisis head on by streamlining the interconnection process to get projects online more quickly, creating new clean energy jobs, and saving New Yorker’s $1 billion a year. Let’s get building,” said Assemblymember Didi Barrett, Chair of the Assembly’s Energy Committee.
The budget earmarks $200 million to be invested in NYSERDA’s NY-Sun program that incentivizes rooftop and community solar. A recent study, Sunlight and Storage into Savings, prepared by Synapse Energy Economics for the Coalition for Community Solar Access found that by scaling up distributed solar and storage deployment, New York can deliver $1 billion in annual utility bill savings through lower wholesale rates for everyone while supporting thousands of good jobs all across the State.
Furthermore, the new budget directs the New York State Public Service Commission to modernize the utility interconnection process, which will lower costs and accelerate timelines to connect new solar and energy storage projects to the electric grid.
The Synapse study notes that energy storage complements solar deployment by extending the benefits of midday solar generation into the evenings when electricity demand is high. Solar and storage are valuable even in the winter months, according to the report, with 56% of energy cost savings occurring between November and March.
A further finding is that distributed solar and storage reduce costs for all, not just those who have solar and batteries. For New York residents, this translates into average electricity savings of $87 annually for upstate residential customers and $46 annually for downstate residential customers.
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