Jasmine Graham was quoted in The Guardian:

“There are already people who are in massive utility debt from the pandemic,” said Jasmine Graham, an energy justice policy manager at We Act for Environmental Justice non-profit.

Graham gave an example of one of the group’s members who is $5,000 in debt, is supplementing her heating with a gas stove, and is pregnant while raising a child under the age of one. “Tell me how a payment plan is going to be enough for her?” Graham said.

Additionally, undocumented residents don’t have access to most federally funded programs that require citizenship, leaving a significant part of New York City’s population without access for help.

Communities of color and low-income people are more likely to live in older, less efficient buildings that result in a higher energy burden, or the percentage of the income spent on cost of heating, cooling and powering a home. In 2016 the state set a target that low-income New Yorkers should pay no more than 6% of their income toward energy bills.

​In New York City, 32% of Black and 33% of Latino households have an energy burden above 6%, and one in four New Yorkers have an energy burden of over 17%.
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Utility companies have a legal duty to hedge, or essentially protect their customers against rapid price increases, by means of accounting for winter-related spikes and locking in a lower price ahead of time. But both Graham and Berkley expect the investigations into Con Edison to reveal potential negligence in the hedging practice on the utility company’s end.

Meanwhile, Con Edison has asked the state for permission to increase its prices.

If passed, the utility company would raise its electric rate by 11% and gas by 18%. According to the company, the roughly $1.7bn in additional revenue they seek would go to upgrading energy delivery systems. Graham said the recent and proposed hikes make a greater case for the importance of public power, or not-for-profit utilities that are community-owned and locally controlled.
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“We need to move away from a model that’s reliant on corporations,” Graham said. “And move toward a democratic, renewable energy system that prioritizes energy affordability for low-income folks.”

Jasmine Graham and Sonal Jessel wrote an op-ed for the NY Daily News:

Crafting and passing laws is one of the most important actions a state legislator can take. But that is easily undermined if they fail to secure the budget needed to fully implement and enforce that law. That’s why shaping our state budget — which funds our schools, health care and climate priorities and a long list of vital other public services — is such a critical part of their job.

Since Gov. Hochul published her proposed budget in January, the Senate and the Assembly have debated for weeks about what to include in the state’s final fiscal framework. During her recent State of the State Address, Hochul committed to support the creation of 2 million electrified or electrification-ready homes by 2030, with 800,000 being allocated for low-to-moderate-income households.

However, these commitments only underscore the need for bigger and bolder action to meet the state’s climate goals outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). Legislation that would get us closer to these goals includes the All-Electric Buildings Act, which aims to replicate NYC’s legislative success and apply it for the entire state and the Gas Transition and Affordable Energy Act, which eliminates subsidies for gas utilities, reducing energy costs; and the $15 billion needed to implement the CLCPA, providing every New Yorker with programs to transition to renewable energy.

New York’s more than 1 million buildings emit more pollution than any other state and according to state climate officials carbon emissions from buildings and homes are now the single largest source of emissions statewide. Building electrification is a practical solution, by eliminating the source of the problem and making heating and cooling affordable and accessible, and supported by state-sponsored funding opportunities.

In December, New York City became the nation’s largest city to enact legislation to end the use of gas heat and stoves in new buildings, joining more than 50 other jurisdictions nationwide. Local Law 154 is a significant first step in decarbonizing New York City’s building sector, which will reduce air pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions. However, up until now, no state in the country has yet to commit to decarbonize all its new buildings and homes.

We understand that, in our current system, even if we electrify every building, some of our energy will still be powered by fossil fuels. However, with the rapid onboarding of renewable energy sources, soon New York will be able to rid its dependence on fossil fuels that we know to harm our collective public health. Decarbonizing the grid and the infrastructure that depends on it, starting with buildings and homes this session, will be the single most impactful step the state could take on its broader climate and emission goals.

Low-income and Black and Brown households suffer disproportionately from indoor and outdoor air pollution, living in ill-equipped homes with poor ventilation, inadequate insulation, and higher risks of leaks and explosions. By pushing out fossil fuels, we open the door to an equitable transition to replace these appliances with safer, more reliable alternatives.

Air pollution contributes to the early deaths of thousands of New Yorkers. Gas stoves have been linked to cardiovascular illnesses, higher rates of asthma in children, and more recent research suggests they are leaking methane into homes even when turned off.

Working to decarbonize buildings and homes would create thousands of high quality jobs in New York. According to a recent study released by Rewiring America, the United States can create 25 million jobs by substantially transitioning from fossil fuels in the building and industrial sectors by 2035, using only existing technologies.

The push to usher in a new era of cleaner, healthier, all-electric new homes and buildings is gaining momentum. There are only a few weeks before the state budget is negotiated and a few months before the legislative session ends and these bills represent the best chance for all New Yorkers to have access to cleaner, healthier and safer buildings and affordable utility bills.

Our elected officials have voiced their commitment to a just transition to renewable energy. Now is the time — and the state budget is the place — for them to put their money where their mouth is.

Jessel is policy director and Graham is the energy justice policy manager of WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

Jasmine Graham was quoted in PV Magazine, Solar Power World, and Harlem World Magazine:

​​"While residents of ‘disadvantaged’ communities would certainly welcome the 10 percent discount on their utility bill offered in NYSERDA’s Roadmap, that hardly does justice to the CLCPA’s promise of 35-40 percent of the overall benefits of clean energy investments. Nor does it do justice for communities that have long borne the brunt of air pollution and the impacts of climate change resulting from fossil fuel power plants and other environmental hazards that have been forced upon their communities over the years, said Jasmine Graham, Energy Justice Policy Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice."

Jasmine Graham was quoted in WE ACT for Environmental Justice's press release:

“Lower utility bills are certainly welcome by the residents of these communities, who spend a greater percentage of their household income on energy bills, and often live in energy inefficient homes that require greater energy use,” said Jasmine Graham, Energy Justice Policy Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “But that alone does not do them justice, nor does it fulfill the statutory requirements set forth in the CLCPA to provide 35-40 percent of the overall benefits of clean energy investments to disadvantaged communities. We need a more equitable roadmap for this transition.”

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“These communities have borne the brunt of air pollution and the impacts of climate change resulting from fossil fuel power plants and other environmental hazards that have been forced upon their communities over the years,” added Graham. “Take the South Bronx, for example, which has been home to two ‘temporary’ peaker plants for the past 20 years, contributing to some of the highest rates of childhood asthma in the nation. These communities deserve to be made whole from the disproportionate burdens they have endured for generations. That is why we are calling for these revisions to NYSERDA’s Roadmap, including the creation of a $100 million development fund to assist low-income community members in disadvantaged communities in owning and operating their own solar projects.”