The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Service. The department's regulations are compiled in title 16 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. The current chairman of the Commission and chief executive of the Department is Rory M. Christian. His term began on June 10, 2021 and runs through February 1, 2027.
Organization
The Public Service Commission consist of seven members, each appointed by the Governor of New York with the advice and consent of the New York State Senate for a term of six years or to complete an unexpired term of a member. A commissioner is designated as chairman by the Governor to serve in such capacity at the pleasure of the Governor or until their term as commissioner expires. No more than three commissioners may be members of the same political party. The Public Service Commission is within the Department of Public Service, and the chairman is the chief executive officer of the Department.
In 2017, the Public Service Commission and the Department of Public Service were appropriated $101.4 million from the state budget and employed 556 people. The payroll totaled $44,195,996 and a commissioner was not listed among the top 25 salary earners. Engineering staff who are licensed professional engineers do not produce stamped engineering plans. The commission has employed and been influenced by an array of interesting personnel: a former Weather Underground member, political insiders, and industry insiders - including an at least one industry insider whose parent was an employee of the commission.
History
The Public Service Commission was established in 1907. Notable former employees include Nora Stanton Blatch Deforest Barney and Delos Franklin Wilcox.
Reforming the Energy Vision
In 2014 the Commission and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo initiated Reforming the Energy Vision. Reforming the Energy Vision (commonly abbreviated as REV) is a set of multi-year regulatory proceedings and policy initiatives. The end goals of REV include reducing carbon emissions from the electric sector and opening up new markets in New York state for emerging energy technologies. The affected utilities in the state of New York include Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, National Grid, New York State Electric & Gas Corporation, and Orange and Rockland Utilities. In addition to the core project of utility restructuring, the REV initiative also encompasses a number of other energy programs, some of which were launched before REV itself. These include K-Solar, NY Prize, NY-Sun, BuildSmart NY and the state's Green Bank. Although the state regulates the siting process of utility-scale (25 MW or greater) electric generation in New York via the Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment, much of the planning process for utility-scale electric generation is undertaken by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), an organization regulated under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The NYISO maintains an interconnection queue where it may be possible to calculate the success rate of utility-scale electric generation and merchant transmission proposals.
In 2016, the Public Service Commission adopted a Clean Energy Standard, to assist in achieving the state's target of obtaining 50% of its electricity from renewable and nuclear sources by 2030, which will see customer bills increase to support these sources. A particular aim was to support three nuclear plants, Ginna, James A. FitzPatrick and Nine Mile Point that had become uneconomic; the support for nuclear is expected to cost $1 billion in the first two years.