NY’s City Council members are just begging for blackouts

[Kamaji]

NY’s City Council members are just begging for blackouts

By Ken Girardin   
Published Dec. 28, 2025

On Dec. 18, two government bodies — one in Albany, the other in Manhattan — were both holding votes related to New York City’s looming electricity shortage.

Unfortunately, one was actively trying to make it worse.

The City Council that day passed Introduction 994, which, beginning in 2030, will require every private landlord, upon a tenant’s request, to install air conditioning in at least one room.

Mayor Eric Adams hasn’t yet indicated whether he’ll sign or veto the bill before he leaves office this week.

About 9% of New York City homes lack AC — and while excessive heat indeed carries negative health effects, the council’s vote paid short shrift to the question of how the city can power a few hundred thousand additional cooling units during the hottest days of the year.

A “reasonable worst-case” estimate by city officials warning that the measure could push up electricity demand by hundreds of megawatts — the output of a medium-sized power plant — got little attention.

Council members saw the concentration of un-air-conditioned units in particular pockets of the city as justification for their vote, rather than a cause for concern about its effect on the grid’s reliability.

After all, the cost of any neighborhood-level grid upgrades will be socialized across all city electricity users.

And councilmembers aren’t responsible for the reliability of the electric grid, so why worry their heads about it?

Contrast that with the discussion happening at the same time, 100 miles up the Hudson River, at the Empire State Plaza.

There, the Public Service Commission, the seven-member board that regulates the state’s gas and electric utilities, was grappling with a November report that showed a narrowing margin between New York City’s peak electricity demand and the amount of electricity available to meet it, beginning in the summer of 2026.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2025/12/28/opinion/how-nycs-foolish-city-council-puts-the-power-grid-at-risk/