Lawler Demands Hochul and NYPA Release the Hidden Cost of Electricity Discounts for Rockland Data Centers

Hochul's Power Authority admits it is cutting power bills for three Orangeburg data centers but refuses to tell the public what those discounts cost New York ratepayers. Pearl River, N.Y. – 9/17/26… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler called on Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York Power Authority to immediately disclose the full value of the electricity discounts the state is giving to data centers in Rockland County, after The Journal News reported that the authority is refusing to say how much the subsidies are worth or what rate the data centers are paying. According to the report, three of the four data centers in the Orangeburg section of Orangetown are receiving discounted hydropower through the authority's ReCharge program. NYPA officials told LoHud they cannot disclose how much those discounts save operators, or even what rate a given data center is paying, calling the information "proprietary and protected under contract.” “Rockland families have watched their electric bills climb year after year, and now we learn that Kathy Hochul's Power Authority has been handing discounted power to data centers while refusing to tell the people footing the bill what it costs them,” said Congressman Lawler. “This is public power, sold by a public authority whose board is appointed by the Governor. The public has every right to know what it is worth and who is getting it. Governor Hochul and NYPA need to release the numbers, and they need to do it now.” “The Governor imposed a moratorium on data centers and promised to go after their tax breaks, and the whole time her own Power Authority has been quietly cutting their electric bills and hiding the details behind confidentiality agreements,” Lawler continued. “Albany is doing what Albany always does: making decisions behind closed doors and sending the bill to hard-working Hudson Valley families. If the Governor wants to be taken seriously on data centers, she can start by telling the truth about what her own agency is giving them.” Lawler said the authority should, at a minimum, publish the total annual cost of ReCharge discounts to New York ratepayers and the average subsidy per participant. The good-government group Reinvent Albany has argued that the authority could release both figures without exposing any single company's power usage, and that it has refused to do so even in response to public records requests. State records show 858 entities are enrolled in ReCharge. Lawler has spent this year working across the aisle on artificial intelligence legislation. In January, he introduced the CHAT Act to protect children from harmful AI companion chatbots. In February, he and Congressman Josh Gottheimer introduced the AI Workforce Training Act, which creates a tax credit for businesses that train their workers to use AI. In March, he joined Representatives Sara Jacobs and Don Beyer on the AI Foundation Model Transparency Act, which would require the companies building the most powerful AI models to disclose how they are trained. This month, he and Gottheimer introduced the Stop Rogue AI Act, which directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to set national standards for tracking and controlling AI agents used by the federal government and its contractors. “I have worked all year with Democrats and Republicans on AI legislation that protects kids from AI chatbots and requires transparency from the companies building these systems,” Lawler said. “But transparency has to apply to government too. If New York is going to use public power to attract data centers, it should be able to tell the public what the deal is and what taxpayers get in return.” Lawler has also been one of the loudest voices in Congress against the state policies driving up energy costs in the Hudson Valley. New York electricity prices have risen 58 percent since 2019, against 36 percent nationally, and NYSERDA projects the state's climate law will cost households more than $4,000 a year. Lawler has called for reopening the Indian Point nuclear plant, expanding natural gas pipeline capacity, and repealing the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy. “The reason a data center needs a secret discount to operate in New York is that Albany has made electricity unaffordable for everyone. Albany shut down Indian Point, spent years blocking natural gas pipelines, and passed a climate law that is pricing families out of their own homes,” Lawler concluded. “Now the only way to get anyone to build here is a special deal off the top, paid for by every other ratepayer. Fix the underlying problem. Bring Indian Point back, build the pipelines, put reliable power back on the grid, and prices come down for everyone.” Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York's 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs. ###