On June 10, 2021, the New York legislature passed a bill allowing customers to subscribe to certain community distributed generation (CDG) projects sited outside of their utility service territory, a practice known as “cross-utility crediting.” This bill, which aims to increase access to CDG projects particularly for those in New York City’s disadvantaged communities, awaits Governor Cuomo’s signature.

Projects in rural parts of the State, where it is often easier to build solar projects, are also limited in the customers they could serve. The New York Solar Energy Industries Association, among others, identified this restriction as an environmental justice issue given its outsized impact on downstate low and moderate income customers, and urged policymakers to adopt cross-utility crediting.