By Staff Reporter
ALBANY — If your $200 energy rebate check hasn’t shown up yet, you’re in the majority. Your neighbor getting one first doesn’t mean anything is wrong.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said Oct. 15 that 3 million of the 8.2 million Protecting Our Wallets Energy Rebate checks, known as POWER checks, had been delivered. That leaves 5.2 million to go. Mailing started Sept. 21 and will run through December, well past Election Day on Nov. 3.
The state Tax Department says mailings “are not based on zip code or region.” It also warns that “you may receive your check sooner or later than your neighbors.” Its call center won’t have information on any individual check, according to the department’s POWER page.
Who gets what
The payments are set by your 2024 state tax return:
- $200 for married couples filing jointly (and qualifying surviving spouses) with New York adjusted gross income of $150,000 or less
- $150 for joint filers with income above $150,000 and up to $300,000
- $100 for single filers, heads of household and married people filing separately with income of $150,000 or less
To qualify, you had to:
- be a full-year New York resident in 2024
- file your 2024 resident return on time (by April 15, 2025, or by Oct. 15, 2025, with an extension)
- not be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return
There’s nothing to apply for. You don’t need to show a utility bill. Checks come only by mail, even if you normally get your refund by direct deposit. They go to the most recent address on file with the Tax Department, so anyone who has moved can update it through an Online Services account. The state won’t take the rebate to pay off any debts you owe.
“As Trump and Washington Republicans keep driving up the cost of gas and utilities, I’m focused on helping New Yorkers keep more money in their pockets,” Ms. Hochul said in the Oct. 15 announcement.
A $1 billion line in a budget with growing gaps
The rebate costs a little over $1 billion, a one-time payment in this year’s $277 billion state budget. State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s July review of the enacted budget puts the POWER checks at $1.04 billion. They reach more than 8.3 million taxpayers and cut personal income tax collections by “just over $1 billion” this fiscal year.
The comptroller’s office pointed out an accounting quirk. The Division of the Budget counts the checks as spending, “even though the actual mechanism for disbursing them is through the personal income tax and could alternatively be considered as a tax expenditure.” Technically, they are advance tax refunds.
The same report shows the bigger picture. The state’s own financial plan projects general fund budget gaps of:
- $6.4 billion in fiscal 2028
- $10.5 billion in fiscal 2029
- $14.7 billion in fiscal 2030
That’s $31.7 billion over three years. The state expects to draw down $1.3 billion of its general fund balance this year to balance the books, and it didn’t add to its reserves. “Growing outyear budget gaps combined with stagnant reserves could put essential State investments at risk in the future,” Mr. DiNapoli wrote.
Revenue has been running ahead this fall. Mr. DiNapoli reported this month that tax receipts through September were $7.3 billion above the state’s projections. The Division of the Budget’s midyear financial plan update, due this fall, will show how much of that cushion survives.
‘Peanuts,’ says Blakeman
The checks have become a campaign issue. Republican nominee Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, has called them too little. “What is she giving us? Peanuts! We get back peanuts we give her thousands of dollars and this is what we get,” he said in September, NBC New York reported.
He compared the state checks with President Trump’s promise of a $5,000 “dividend” if Republicans keep control of Congress. “Wouldn’t you rather have $5,000 in your account than $100?” Mr. Blakeman asked.
Legislative leaders who wrote the rebate into the budget defend it as relief that’s already been approved. “Here in New York, ratepayers bear some of the highest utility rates in the nation, placing financial strain on families,” Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie said in the governor’s release. “This reality is why the Assembly Majority fought to make a one-time $1 billion Protecting Our Wallets Energy Rebate (POWER) a reality.”
State Sen. Kevin S. Parker said the money matters as winter comes. “Every dollar spent on rising energy bills is a dollar families need for groceries, rent and other essentials,” he said. He added that the Legislature’s job includes “meaningful oversight of utility rates and accountability for how ratepayer dollars are spent.”
The bigger savings most people are missing
For many Western New York households, a one-time check isn’t the biggest help available. The state’s Energy Affordability Program gives monthly discounts to about 1 million households statewide. State officials estimate about 2.5 million more households are eligible but haven’t signed up since the program was expanded this year. Since a mid-September enrollment push, 50,000 more households have applied through their utilities, the governor’s office said.
Households that get SNAP benefits, Medicaid or a veterans disability pension are among those who qualify, Ms. Hochul said in September. She said enrolled households can save up to $500 a year. “It’s real money. Real money!” she said.
Customers of National Grid and NYSEG, the main electric utilities in Western New York, apply through their utility. Details are on the state Department of Public Service website. The state’s Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps with heating bills, opens for applications Nov. 2.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked the Tax Department how many POWER checks have gone to households in Erie and Niagara counties, and the Department of Public Service how many households in National Grid’s and NYSEG’s territories are enrolled in the discount program.
Featured image: The New York State Capitol in Albany. Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 public domain dedication), cropped.
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