The New York Association of Public Power (NYAPP) is a state association of not-for-profit municipal and cooperative electric utilities. NYAPP electric utilities are the original “microgrids” in New York State and function as “community aggregators” because our utilities own their distribution systems and provide electricity services directly to our consumers. Most of our utilities have been serving their New York communities for more than 100 years with electricity provided by renewable resources, primarily hydropower. All of our utilities share the common goal of providing clean, reliable and economic power for the businesses and residents of their communities.

NYAPP’s advocacy efforts support our goals by providing our elected officials with comprehensive information regarding the impacts or benefits of specific legislative proposals on our utility operations. We regularly meet with our NYS Legislative and Congressional Members and their staff members to advocate for or urge opposition to legislation that could impact our utilities and customers.

In addition, our utilities regularly provide their elected officials with updates on projects and initiatives being undertaken in their communities.

In 1978 Congress passed the Pole Attachment Act, which added section 224 to the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communcations Commission (FCC) to establish subsidized rates for pole attachments for the new cable industry.

Under the law, public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives were exempted from this requirement “because the pole attachment rates charged by municipally owned and cooperative utilities [were] already subject to a decision-making process based upon constituent needs and interests.”

This exemption was continued through multiple telecommunications reform efforts including the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, because Congress maintained that the existing process is appropriate and adequate. Several times since 2010 the FCC has recommended the Congress eliminate the exemption public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives have from FCC regulation of pole attachments. In September, the FCC issued a report and order asserting its authority to preempt state and local laws and agreements, including those related to pole attachments.

NYAPP oppose any efforts by the FCC or by Congress to circumvent the well-established federal law that precludes the FCC from regulating public power utility poles. In addition, we oppose any attempts by the FCC or Congress to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to the make-ready process for attaching to poles.

NYAPP SUPPORTS: The Congressional bills H.R 530 and S. 1220, which overturn the FCC’s September 2018 report and order that allows the FCC to preempt state and local pole attachments laws and agreements.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act prohibited the issuance of tax-exempt advance refunding bonds after December 31, 2017. Advance refunding bonds are a valuable tool used by state and local governments to reduce the financing cost for investments in roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and electric utility systems. In the past five years, there has been $25 billion of advance refunding bonds issued in New York State.

NYAPP SUPPORTS: H.R. 2772, the "Investing in Our Communities Act" which would reinstate the ability to issue tax-exempt advance refunding bonds.

NYAPP believes that tax-exempt municipal bonds are the single most effective tool for financing investments in public infrastructure, including the generation, transmission, and distribution used to serve public power utility customers. We believe that the federal tax exclusion for municipal bond interest should not be limited or replaced.

In the last decade, public power utilities in the U.S. have invested more than $2 trillion in the distribution, transmission, and generation equipment needed to deliver reliable and affordable electric power to the more than 22 million homes and businesses in more than 2,000 communities throughout the country.

These investments in our electric infrastructure are becoming increasingly important to enhance resilency to extreme weather events, and improve system efficiencies. On average, retail rates paid by New York's public power utility customers are lower and our public power utility customers are interrupted less often by power outages and for less time when there is an outage.

NYAPP urges Congress to enact legislation to improve tax-exempt financing options for state and local governments (including public power utilities), including increasing the small-issuer exception threshold and simplifying “private-use rules.” Congress should reject any proposal to further limit or restrict the tax-exemption for municipal bond interest.

NYAPP supports the American Public Power Association (APPA) Competitive Market Plan. This Plan emphasizes long-term contracts, which are essential to encouraging investment in new facilities and encouraging prices to track the costs of production. The goal is to shrink the current reliance on organized hourly energy markets, by limiting the bids to actual marginal costs. The plan would not reregulate at the wholesale level, but will encourage suppliers to enter into competitive long-term contracts that reflect actual costs.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides critical short-term seasonal aid to the most vulnerable in our population, including the elderly, our veterans, the unemployed and families with young children. Every NYAPP utility has residents who benefit from the LIHEAP program and most of our utilities have residents who qualify but do not receive the aid.