Poll: Public Power is Popular Solution to Energy Affordability Crisis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Poll: Public Power is Popular Solution to Energy Affordability Crisis

While New York State legislators push for $200 million for public renewables in budget, Hochul hopes to double down on gas by gutting climate law for billionaire donors

New York, New York – A new poll conducted by Data for Progress shows that a majority of voters believe the public sector should run electric utilities and want the public sector to be in charge of upgrading and modernizing the grid. A 60% supermajority, including the majority of Republicans, wanted the public sector to lead on grid modernization, and 58% believe the electric grid should be publicly run.

The poll also found 60% of Americans believe the best way to lower electricity bills is to invest in renewable energy like wind and solar. Thanks to the passage of the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) in 2023, New York State has both the authority and mandate to do exactly what the majority of Americans want: build publicly owned, renewable energy to address the affordability and climate crises.

Instead of leading the nation on clean affordable energy, Governor Kathy Hochul has failed to fully utilize the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to meet New York’s legally mandated climate targets and plans to use budget negotiations to gut the law, which will increase reliance on gas during historic price spikes exacerbated by the war on Iran. This reliance will lead to even higher utility bills for New Yorkers.

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) requires the state to be at 70% renewable energy by 2030. Thousands of New Yorkers and elected officials, like Zohran Mamdani, have called on Hochul’s NYPA to build the 15 gigawatts(GW) of public renewables necessary for the state to meet CLCPA targets and lower energy bills, but in its last strategic plan update NYPA backtracked, committing to only 5.5 GW.

The CEO of NYPA, Justin Driscoll, recently testified at a budget hearing that “more funds, more equity” would result in “more projects” being built. The New York State Assembly included $200 million to build public renewables in their one-house budget proposal, along with a two year freeze on utility rate hikes, but Governor Hochul has so far not supported funding public renewables.

Alex Patterson, Campaign Coordinator for Public Power NY, said: “Public Power is popular and thanks to thousands of New Yorkers who fought for and won the Build Public Renewables Act, we have the ability to lower bills, create thousands of good paying union jobs and close down polluting power plants by building at least 15 gigawatts of public renewables. Instead, Governor Hochul is gutting our climate law so she can double down on gas during a historic cost spike, all to power AI datacenters that will drive up our bills even more. Instead of an energy system that siphons money from New Yorkers’ pockets into her billionaire donors’ bank accounts, Hochul must fund the public renewables we need and deserve.”

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Note to the editor:

About Public Power NY

As chronicled in the new book “Organize or Burn.” Public Power NY is a movement fighting to ensure New York effectively carries out the Build Public Renewables Act by building 15 Gigawatts of public renewables by 2030. Hailed as the first statewide Green New Deal law, BPRA was written by PPNY and passed in 2023 thanks to four years of organizing by a multiracial, multi-generational movement of climate and advocacy organizations, labor unions representing millions of New Yorkers and tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have taken action from upstate, downstate, and everywhere in between. With federal climate action off the table, BPRA has enabled NY to not just play defense against Trump, but lead the way the way FDR created NYPA to do.