PRESS RELEASE - This Climate Week, IPPNY Announces Five Ways Competitive Energy Markets Help Meet NY's Climate Goals

Analysis and voter research show competition can accelerate emissions reductions, unlock critical grid investment, and preserve resources for New York communities

ALBANY, NY – As Climate Week takes off in New York, IPPNY is highlighting Five ways competitive energy markets help meet New York’s climate goals. New York’s path to a carbon-neutral economy depends on building more clean energy, modernizing the electric grid, and keeping power reliable and affordable. A competitive electricity market is essential to achieving all three. Analysis by FTI Consulting, commissioned by New York’s Affordable Clean Power Alliance, together with public-opinion research showing broad support for a competitive electricity system, underscores that New York should protect the market structure that has helped drive cleaner generation investment for more than two decades.

“New York’s climate goals demand an electricity system that can attract investment, reduce emissions, and deliver reliable power at a price customers can afford,” said Gavin Donohue, President and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York. “Competitive markets have a proven record of doing exactly that – driving cleaner generation, putting private capital to work, and allowing utilities to focus on the billions of dollars in grid upgrades needed to deliver New York’s energy future. As we move toward a carbon-neutral economy, policymakers must preserve the competitive market that has helped make this progress possible.”

Here are five ways competitive energy markets help New York meet its climate goals:

1. New York's power sector has cut emissions faster under competition than it did under the old utility monopoly, and the gap is widening.
   Since 2000, power-sector emissions rates in competitive regions have declined faster than in regions served by utility-owned generation. From 2000 to 2019 alone, carbon dioxide emissions fell by 55%. Competitive regions now produce less than half the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of electricity generated compared with utility-owned regions, demonstrating that competition can help speed the transition to a cleaner electric system.
   
   
2. Competition brings private capital to clean-energy development.
   Competitive markets enable independent power producers to invest in new, efficient, and lower-emitting generation, putting private-sector capital to work to support New York’s climate agenda. This structure encourages innovation and helps the state add the resources needed to replace aging generation while maintaining reliability.
   
   
3.  Keeping generation competitive lets utilities focus on the grid.
   New York needs an estimated $26 billion in transmission and distribution investment, including approximately 1,970 megawatts of expansion, to meet Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act targets. Maintaining a competitive generation market allows utilities to focus their resources and expertise on modernizing the poles, wires, substations, and transmission system needed to deliver clean power and support New York’s 2050 carbon-neutral goal.
   
   
4. Competitive generation supports state and local communities.
   Independent power producers contribute approximately $1.5 billion annually in state and local tax revenue, supporting schools, public safety, infrastructure, and other essential public services. These investments help ensure that the clean-energy transition delivers economic benefits to communities across New York.
   
   
5. New Yorkers support a competitive, climate-focused energy future.
   Voter research shows that 63% of New Yorkers support maintaining a competitive electricity market. At the same time, New Yorkers want policymakers to address affordability and reliability alongside climate progress: 56% identify affordability as the state’s top electricity priority, while 71% say their electricity bills increased over the past year. Competitive markets offer a practical path forward – one that advances lower emissions while helping protect customers from unnecessary costs.

Policymakers should keep New York’s electricity market competitive, and use that competitive strength to deliver the cleaner, more reliable grid New Yorkers need to meet the state’s climate commitments.

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