A $3.26 billion power line and the rule that spread the cost

What happened

The New York Public Service Commission granted a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need to Propel NY Energy, a roughly 90-mile underground line built jointly by the New York Power Authority and New York Transco. Utility Dive, the Long Island Press and the Queens Chronicle date the approval to the Commission's 17 September session, a Thursday session date. RTO Insider and Daily Energy Insider date the vote 21 September, their own publication date. About nine miles is submarine cable under Long Island Sound. The rest runs beneath Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, the Bronx and Westchester, tying into nine substations. Commission Chair Rory M. Christian said "this critical infrastructure project meets our statutory siting standards and will help provide needed power downstate."

The number

The capital cost is $3.26 billion, as reported by Utility Dive, RTO Insider and the Long Island Press. The developer's own project page states about $3.2 billion.

None of the five outlets printed the next figure. NYISO, the non-profit that runs the state grid, has an independent Market Monitoring Unit, Potomac Economics. In a report dated 22 May 2023, it calculated a 20-year benefit-cost ratio of 0.81 for the selected design, meaning 81 cents of measurable benefit per dollar spent over 2030 to 2049, and 1.04 for a cheaper alternative from the same developer. It wrote that the cheaper design appeared more cost-effective and recommended NYISO reconsider. NYISO selected the more expensive design in June 2023, and the Commission certified that design this month. The same report estimated benefits stay below costs until the late 2030s, after which annual benefits begin to exceed annual costs.

How the money actually moves

The Commission first declares that state policy requires a new line, which it did in March 2021, to raise Long Island's ability to export at least 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind to the rest of the state, per Utility Dive. NYISO then runs a competition and picks a design. The winner builds the line and recovers its construction cost plus an approved rate of return through NYISO's transmission tariff. That return is profit on top of the build cost, set inside the tariff and approved with it by regulators, not by the people paying it. The same charge funds both.

NYISO bills each utility — Con Edison, Orange and Rockland, PSEG Long Island, National Grid, NYSEG — a share of that annual charge. Since the Commission's order of 13 May 2022 in Case 20-E-0497, reported in trade coverage of the order and confirmed on the developer's project page, the share is set by volumetric load-ratio share: each utility pays in proportion to the kilowatt-hours its customers used, near the line or not, benefiting or not. The same record shows that order replaced a March 2021 method that would have put 75% of the cost on the regions found to be economic beneficiaries and 25% statewide. The change moved Long Island's share from roughly 75% to about 14%.

Each utility folds its share into the delivery charge, the part of the bill that pays for the poles, wires and substations. It is the road, not the cargo, which is why switching suppliers does not escape it. Nobody receives a bill with the project's name on it. The charge starts reaching customers when the line goes into service, required by May 2030, and runs for decades after.

Who pays here

A Brooklyn business on Con Edison and a Monsey business on Orange and Rockland will each carry a share inside the delivery charge. Neither has a vote in the Queens routing decision.

The Queens Chronicle, the one outlet reporting that dispute, says Community Board 11 opposes the proposed route and is expected to file a formal objection in October, that board chairman Paul DiBenedetto asked for the cables to be buried beneath Joe Michaels Mile parkland rather than neighborhood streets, and that City Council Member Vickie Paladino and Representative Tom Suozzi have each stated opposition, Suozzi in a letter dated 15 July 2026.

A Lakewood business on Jersey Central Power and Light and a Cleveland business pay nothing; both sit outside New York's grid. New York delivery charges carry this cost. New Jersey's and Ohio's do not.

What to watch

1 October 2026, when the comment window on the Environmental Management and Construction Plans closes. Comments are open to anyone; the decision is the Commission's, which must approve those plans before anything is dug. Limited site work is expected late this year, broader construction in mid-2027. If the route is redrawn, the $3.26 billion moves too.