Last month, at a luxury hotel near Miami, bill collectors from energy companies around the country gathered to talk shop. The three-day conference included headshot sessions and cocktail receptions sponsored by credit reporting and debt recovery agencies.
During one seminar, representatives from utilities in New York spoke about how they had banded together to influence a forthcoming state policy that would limit when the energy companies can turn off customers’ power during heat waves because of unpaid bills.
A day after the seminar, the new policy was announced. The utilities, worth more than $50 billion in shareholder equity last year, got most of what they wanted. But the rules, advocates said, lacked crucial protections for city dwellers, and in some cases removed existing ones.
Customers in New York City “lost meaningful safeguards,” said Laurie Wheelock, the executive director of the Public Utility Law Project, known as PULP, a nonprofit that works on behalf of low-income customers.
Louise Yeung, New York City’s climate chief, said that the new policy weakened protections for New Yorkers instead of making them stronger. “No one should be put in harm’s way because they are struggling to make ends meet,” she said in a statement.
Con Edison — which provides power for most of New York City, and is also the largest and wealthiest utility in the state — acknowledged rising energy costs and said it offers payment plans and assistance for vulnerable customers. “We approach this responsibility with care and flexibility,” Jamie McShane, a spokesman for Con Edison, said. “Because when balances go unpaid for extended periods, the costs for a safe and reliable system are ultimately borne by other customers.”
Kim Mashke, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Public Service, which approved the new policy, said that there was a balance to strike between protecting customers and managing delinquent accounts, which had mushroomed to nearly $2 billion since the coronavirus pandemic.
Global warming is accelerating — the last three years have been the warmest on record — and future heat waves are projected to be longer, as well as more frequent and severe. In New York City, where it’s hotter than the rest of the state and more than a quarter of residents live in poverty, extreme heat can expose a trifecta of crises: housing, energy affordability and climate change.
For low-income residents with health conditions, heat waves can be especially dangerous, said Earle Chambers, an epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.
“Extreme heat can affect people with cardiovascular health issues, chronic kidney disease or anything that is exacerbated by dehydration,” Dr. Chambers said. And heat-related health care costs, such as emergency room visits, can leave people with less to spend on essentials like child care or rent, worsening an already precarious situation, he said.
‘People think much better in the dark’
“Stay in the ‘Beverly Hills of Miami,’” read a promotion for the 2026 Annual Utilities Credit & Collections Symposium, which took place at the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables, a hotel with Mediterranean Revival architecture near tree-lined streets and high-end shops.
Several speakers at the conference brought up how to handle customers who didn’t pay their bills. A recording of the session was provided to The New York Times.
“People think much better in the dark,” said a speaker who identified himself as a collections supervisor from PSEG Long Island, a utility that serves more than 1 million customers on Long Island and in parts of Queens. The statement was met with laughter.
Katy Tatzel, the director of communications for PSEG Long Island, said the comment did not align with the company’s values and would be investigated. (The Times had shared the comment, but not the recording, with the utility.) “PSEG Long Island recognizes the hardships our customers face and takes pride in the many programs available to help,” Ms. Tatzel said.
Much of New York City’s housing stock is old and tends to retain heat, meaning that the temperature indoors can be higher than it is outdoors, and many customers struggle to pay for air-conditioning, according to PULP. A recent city report on heat-related deaths said that a growing number of people were dying when the temperature exceeded 82 degrees. PULP and other environmental justice nonprofits had called on the state to prohibit power cutoffs when the temperature reached 85 degrees.
At the conference, after the PSEG seminar, representatives from Con Edison and National Grid gave a presentation on how utilities in New York had formed a unified front during the negotiations over the power shut-off policy. According to the Con Edison manager, the utilities shared data, crunched numbers and edited drafts of a proposal, crafted by a consultant, that was submitted to state regulators.
Energy companies in New York are already barred from shutting off power at certain times, such as on public holidays. The Con Edison manager said an analysis by the utilities had concluded that they could lose up to $19.5 million a year if the temperature threshold were lowered to 85 degrees. The utilities wanted to be able to sever service at any point before the temperature reached 90 degrees, a threshold that had been recommended by state regulators.
Money tends to “flow in” after a shut-off, said the manager from Con Edison, seeming to imply that customers rush to pay their bills when they lose electricity.
Mr. McShane, of Con Edison, and Frank Dwyer, a spokesman for National Grid, said it was standard practice for utilities to collaborate when working with regulators and that service terminations were a last resort.
In the end, state officials kept the temperature threshold at 90 degrees and decreased the number of days that power shut-offs are prohibited in New York City.
The ‘Heat Island’ Issue
The new policy streamlined individual heat protection rules for different utilities into one statewide mandate. Starting this summer, some energy companies will follow more stringent rules, while for others, including Con Edison, the rules will be relaxed.
Con Edison serves about 3.7 million electricity customers in New York City and Westchester County. Under its former agreement with the state, service terminations were prohibited the day before a forecast of 90 degrees, the day of the forecast and two days after. The new policy bars terminations only on the day of the forecast.
Ms. Wheelock, of the Public Utility Law Project, said that shutting off power the day before a heat wave could result in the suffering of countless New Yorkers. Last summer, more than 20 percent of service terminations in New York State occurred 24 hours before a heat wave, according to data collected by the nonprofit’s hotline. Without day-before protections in New York City, those numbers could increase, she said.
The earliest a utility can cut off power for delinquent bills is 35 days after the payment is due, according to state law. The cutoff is not related to the amount owed. Last week, one customer who owed $56 received a disconnection notice, and another customer had their service terminated for owing $300, Ms. Wheelock said. According to data collected by the nonprofit, the average overdue amount owed to New York utilities in March of this year was $1,660.
A state law would continue to protect older, blind and disabled customers by requiring 72 hours’ notice before service terminations, and exceptions are also made for doctor-certified medical emergencies, said Ms. Mashke, of New York’s Department of Public Service. As soon as a customer enters into a payment agreement with a utility, the reconnection must happen within 24 hours, she said.
The new policy carves out exceptions for “heat islands,” which are densely populated areas full of asphalt and concrete that tend to soak up and retain heat, making them several degrees warmer than more rural regions.
Most of New York City is considered a heat island, according to Climate Central, a science communication nonprofit. In areas that are designated heat islands, service cannot be terminated during the two days after the temperature reaches 90 degrees.
But there’s a catch. For the first time, regulators are asking utilities to identify the heat islands in their territories through “a collaborative and transparent stakeholder process,” which started this month and involves the input of nonprofits and other state agencies, Ms. Mashke said.
Several environmental justice groups oppose this extra step, arguing that several state agencies already have data on heat islands, and that all regulators need to do is ask for it.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.
