Patrick Robbins

You know, we're trying to tackle this problem from a variety of ways here in New York.

You know, and as I mentioned, a big part of the cost of our a big part of our electric bills is the distribution side.

And that's why we're really encouraged and really excited that Assemblymember Sarah Hanna-Schretzer and Senator Shelley Mayer have brought the FAIR Act.

to the table, which would lower the return on equity that the distribution companies are allowed to charge.

It tackles that problem by saying, OK, we understand that you have to earn the revenue requirement plus enough to attract investment.

We are going to set it at what you need to attract investment, which right away you're looking at disincentivizing sort of

extraneous capital expenditure.

You're looking at shaving money off of people's bills.

We're really in favor of that.

And I hope that people will check that out.

And the other thing that I'll say is that here in New York City, the utility has been really putting up roadblocks to battery storage, which is a really necessary part of bringing our bills down here in New York, which is the biggest demand center in the state.

Well, you know, Chad, I wish that I could look into the hearts and souls of Con Ed's executives.

But, you know, I would say you don't have to know exactly what's motivating them deep down in their hearts to see that their profit motive and their business model matters.

um, is sort of running contrary to bringing more batteries onto the grid.

You know, batteries are great because they help us levelize demand.

You know, batteries can charge at times when power is cheap and discharge and sell back to the grid at times when power is expensive.

And that makes unnecessary a lot of the really expensive infrastructure that distribution companies would otherwise be charging all of us for.

Um, and that's, uh,

you know, that's great for us, but it does fly directly in the face of Con Edison's business model.

It cuts into that distribution money because the source is more local?