New York Senate Bill S09102

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/3/26
• Refer: 2/3/26

Caption

Prohibits utilities from charging customers excise tax; provides such tax shall be charged against and paid by the utility.

Summary

This bill amends the New York City Administrative Code to prohibit a utility from passing an excise tax through to customers as a separate charge on utility bills. Instead, the tax must be paid by the utility itself and treated as part of the utility’s operating costs. The bill is framed as a consumer-protection measure affecting how utility taxes are handled in billing. The bill also retains and clarifies existing language concerning certain large cooperative corporations with at least 1,500 apartments that provide metered electricity, steam, refrigeration, or water generated by a cogeneration facility. For those entities, the applicable excise tax rate is set at zero percent for the specified taxable periods. The measure would take effect 60 days after becoming law.

Impact

The bill would amend section 11-1102 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York, changing the legal treatment of an excise tax imposed on utilities in New York City. Its main effect is to bar utilities from itemizing or separately charging customers for that tax, shifting the financial burden to the utility as an operating expense. It would also preserve the zero-percent tax treatment for certain large cooperative housing corporations that generate and distribute utility services through cogeneration facilities.

Sentiment

The available record shows no committee transcript, recorded votes, or formal opposition, so there is no documented debate to gauge broad support or resistance. Based on the bill text and caption, the measure appears intended to protect customers from utility tax pass-throughs, which suggests a consumer-oriented policy approach. Because no voting history is available, the overall sentiment can only be characterized as neutral to favorable from the bill’s framing, with no recorded controversy in the provided materials.

Contention

The principal policy issue is whether an excise tax on utilities should be absorbed by the utility or passed through to customers in rates or bill line items. Utilities would likely be the affected party because the bill prevents them from recovering the tax as a separate customer charge, while customers would benefit from greater billing transparency and potentially lower itemized charges. Another possible point of contention is the continued special treatment for large cooperative corporations with cogeneration systems, which may raise questions about fairness and tax parity, though no explicit objections are included in the record.