Utility bill increases coverage for NYSEG and Yorktown City Hall
NYSEG representatives met with customers at Yorktown City Hall on March 12, 2025, to discuss bill increases.
- A USA Today Network investigation released in September revealed that NYPA executives took $7.5 million in flights to attend press conferences and ribbon cuttings.
- Directors of NYPA’s seven-member board fly from upstate New York to their monthly meeting in White Plains.
- Critics question whether an agency tasked with boosting the state’s clean energy output should use turboprop aircraft, which emit tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel each year.
The New York Power Authority should stop having top executives attend press conferences and ribbon cuttings in a $7.5 million plane with three full-time pilots on board, the state’s leading Democratic and Republican lawmakers say.
State power authority board members should also not be able to fly to attend monthly meetings, the lawmakers added.
In a rare bipartisan agreement, New York state Senate leadership, Democratic Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Republican Sen. Rob Ortt, separately condemned NYPA’s use of turboprop planes that emit tens of thousands of gallons of carbon-emitting jet fuel annually, a practice highlighted in a USA TODAY Network investigation published in September.
“New Yorkers are struggling with rising energy costs and uncertainty about heating their homes this winter,” said Senate Majority Leader Stewart Cousins, who represents parts of Yonkers and Westchester County. “It is unacceptable that the government agency tasked with overseeing the production and distribution of this electricity is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on private jets. This must stop immediately.”
Mr. Ort, 62 years oldn.d. NYPA, whose western New York district is home to one of NYPA’s hydroelectric facilities, said the agency “should not be asking ratepayers to backstop high bills and fund infrastructure improvements while executives travel in luxury. The hypocrisy of NYPA executives is astonishing.”
“It looks like the Democrats have finally found the greedy energy executives they’ve been talking about. They’re simultaneously pursuing expensive and unrealistic energy policies in the name of the Green New Scam,” Minority Leader Ort said.
What you need to know about NYPA’s plane investigation
Earlier this year, NYPA faced bipartisan backlash and was forced to withdraw proposed rates for customers in upstate states. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who appoints NYPA’s seven-member board of directors, told officials to “go back to the drawing board.” In September, NYPA introduced a new rate proposal that would increase rates by $1 to $2 per month for six years for residential customers living in any of the 51 municipalities and local electric cooperatives that contract with NYPA. NYPA boasts some of the lowest electricity rates in the state.
A USA TODAY Network investigation called into question NYPA’s long-standing advocacy of private jets, which need to quickly transport engineers and senior managers to the 17 generating facilities and 1,550 miles of transmission lines it operates in the state. NYPA sells the electricity it generates to metropolitan transportation agencies, New York and New Jersey port authorities, nonprofit organizations, and other government agencies.
The network examined NYPA flight records from June 2023 to July 2024 and found that NYPA executives, including President and CEO Justin Driscoll, regularly fly from White Plains to press conferences around the state in turboprop planes. And board members fly from upstate New York and back to attend monthly meetings at NYPA’s White Plains headquarters.
What NYPA says about criticism of airplane use
In a statement released late Friday, NYPA did not directly respond to the state lawmakers’ criticism or say whether it plans to reconsider its airline policies for employees and executives.
“Electricity affordability and reliability are always at the forefront of everything we do,” said spokeswoman Lindsey Kryzak. “NYPA uses its vehicles, including aircraft, to conduct the utility’s business, and the utility currently provides 25 percent of the state’s energy at no cost to taxpayers. That work takes our employees and leaders to every region of New York, not just to our facilities in Niagara and Massena, but to communities and customer sites across the state, where they deliver affordable, energy-efficient solutions that move the state closer to its clean energy goals.”
NYPA collects revenue from ratepayers, not taxpayers, officials noted.
The turboprop aircraft is housed in a hangar at Westchester Airport along with other commercial aircraft for $159,000 a year, providing NYPA employees with a flying experience enjoyed by celebrities and professional sports teams such as the New York Knicks.
Critics have questioned whether the $3.4 billion agency Mr. Hochul has tasked with reducing carbon emissions in state buildings, increasing the use of electric vehicles and accelerating clean energy growth should be sending employees by plane across the state, especially for short trips of less than an hour.
“NYPA’s use of commercial aircraft is an alarming hypocrisy and an insult to New York’s energy consumers who are struggling to pay their bills and keep the lights on,” said Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, who represents Oswego County in central New York.
“We’re not talking about crews responding to emergencies across the state,” he added. “These are executives who don’t want to make the two-hour drive. Starting in 2027, school districts won’t be able to buy gas-powered buses, but NYPA executives can fly around in private planes. In a nutshell, this is a backwards priority for New York’s energy policy.”
State Sen. James Skoufis, an Orange County Democrat, agreed.
“It must be nice to live in the ivory tower of NYPA and cut ribbons on jets and pay monthly meetings,” Skoufis said. “This elitist and out-of-touch attitude is as tone-deaf as it is expensive. NYPA leadership should do the right thing. Apologize and stop this obscene behavior immediately.”
Energy affordability has emerged as a central issue for state legislatures grappling with voters whose monthly gas and electric bills are two to three times higher than in previous years. More than 1 million ratepayers in the state are more than two months behind on their utility bills.
Under such circumstances, ratepayer advocates say executives and directors of the nation’s second-largest utility company, who fly around the state in private planes, have poor eyesight.
“In a time of tight budgets and climate disaster, every state agency should do everything in its power to reduce air travel,” said Blair Horner, senior policy adviser at NYPIRG, a government watchdog group. We all live in the era of “Zoom” where most meetings can be handled remotely. NYPA has a fiduciary responsibility to New York State taxpayers, and every penny is important in how it handles that responsibility. ”
State Sen. George Borello, Republican, 57 years oldth The district borders Western New York, the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier, and said NYPA has failed to lead by example.
“They want us all to get rid of gas stoves, drive electric cars, use public transportation. They also have commercial aircraft, which sometimes fly people over very short distances,” Borrero said. “This just shows that they’re not serious about what they’re actually trying to sell us when it comes to power…. What’s the urgency to get somewhere in 30 minutes instead of two hours? They’re not emergency responders.”
This story has been updated with new information
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network’s New York State team. He has won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Deadline Club, and others during a decades-long career that has included stints at the New York Daily News, Newark’s Star-Ledger, and the Hackensack Record. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com.
