 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          8546
 
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                    October 24, 2025
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sen.  MAY  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
        AN ACT to amend the public service law and the public  authorities  law,
          in  relation  to  establishing  a grid modernization surcharge; and to
          amend the state finance law, in  relation  to  establishing  the  grid
          modernization fund
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a  new  section
     2  66-x to read as follows:
     3    §  66-x.    Grid  modernization surcharge. 1. For the purposes of this
     4  section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
     5    (a) "Data center" means any facility  with  an  information-technology
     6  (IT) load exceeding ten megawatts (MW) of electrical demand, used prima-
     7  rily for the storage, management, processing, or transmission of digital
     8  information; and
     9    (b)  "High-intensity  data  center" means a data center with an annual
    10  power-usage effectiveness (PUE) greater than 1.3 or an annual  electric-
    11  ity consumption exceeding 50 gigawatt-hours.
    12    2.  (a) The commission shall by regulation establish a grid moderniza-
    13  tion surcharge to be collected by each electric corporation  from  every
    14  covered  data  center  account  as  a separate line item on the customer
    15  bill. The commission shall set the surcharge as a rate per kilowatt-hour
    16  or per megawatt-hour billed to such accounts and  may  differentiate  by
    17  voltage level or service class.
    18    (b)  A  covered  data  center  that  demonstrates, through independent
    19  verification acceptable to the commission, that at least ninety  percent
    20  of  its  annual  electricity  consumption  is met by renewable resources
    21  under  contracts  that  meet  commission-established  additionality  and
    22  deliverability  criteria  may receive a partial or full reduction of the
    23  surcharge.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13962-03-5
        S. 8546                             2
 
     1    (c) The commission shall require each  electric  corporation  to  file
     2  tariff  riders  implementing  this section and shall establish verifica-
     3  tion, auditing, and penalty provisions for non-compliance.
     4    3.  No utility shall impose or pass the surcharge established pursuant
     5  to subdivision two of this section to any customer.   Amounts  collected
     6  pursuant  to  this  section  shall be billed only to covered data center
     7  accounts and shall not be recovered from any other customer classes.
     8    4. (a) Every utility shall prepare an annual  report  on  collections,
     9  expenditures,  and  measurable  system  improvements,  outage frequency,
    10  congestion frequency, or renewable capacity  interconnection  rates  and
    11  submit such report to the commission.
    12    (b)  The commission shall submit an annual public report to the gover-
    13  nor, the temporary president of the  senate,  and  the  speaker  of  the
    14  assembly  summarizing  total  collections,  disbursements  from the grid
    15  modernization fund, project status, and  quantified  outcomes  including
    16  reliability  indices,  congestion  relief,  added  hosting capacity, and
    17  interconnection processing times.
    18    5. Any funds collected pursuant to this  section  shall  be  deposited
    19  into  the grid modernization fund established pursuant to section eight-
    20  y-five of the state finance law to finance investments in  system  reli-
    21  ability, capacity expansion, and integration of clean energy resources.
    22    §  2.  The  public  authorities law is amended by adding a new section
    23  1005-e to read as follows:
    24    § 1005-e.  Grid modernization surcharge.  1. The authority shall adopt
    25  and enforce an equivalent surcharge for covered  data  center  customers
    26  served by the authority and shall remit all receipts to the grid modern-
    27  ization  fund.  The  authority  shall coordinate with the public service
    28  commission to ensure consistency with regulations adopted under  section
    29  sixty-six-x of the public service law.
    30    2.  Such surcharge shall be deposited into the grid modernization fund
    31  established pursuant to section eighty-five of the state finance law.
    32    § 3. The state finance law is amended by adding a new  section  85  to
    33  read as follows:
    34    §  85.  Grid modernization fund. 1. There is hereby established in the
    35  joint custody of the state comptroller and the  public  service  commis-
    36  sion, a special fund to be known as the "grid modernization fund".
    37    2.  Such fund shall consist of all moneys collected pursuant to subdi-
    38  vision two of section sixty-six-x of the public service  law.    Nothing
    39  contained in this section shall prevent the state from receiving grants,
    40  gifts,  or  bequests  for  the  purposes  of the fund as defined in this
    41  section and depositing them into the fund according to law.
    42    3. Monies of the fund shall be expended only to finance investments in
    43  system reliability, capacity expansion, and integration of clean  energy
    44  resources.
    45    4.  Monies  shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of
    46  the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the public service
    47  commission.
    48    § 4. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become  a
    49  law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
    50  rule  or  regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its
    51  effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
    52  effective date.
Establishes a grid modernization surcharge

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