PSC opens the proceeding to build Hochul's Energy Affordability Index: utilities must file a first affordability calculation by Feb. 1, 2027, with the first statewide report due July 1, 2027; if a utility's index tops 6% of household income (3% electric, 3% gas) the Commission can install an independent Affordability Monitor, and the index will be tied to executive pay

Implementation step on the FY27 budget's Ratepayer Protection Plan. The PSC's Sept. 17 initiating order gives interim guidance: each utility's index = median annual residential electric or gas spend divided by State Median Income (Area Median Income for Con Ed and National Grid downstate). Utilities must use it in upcoming rate cases and in first annual affordability filings due Feb. 1, 2027; the Commission's first annual affordability report is due July 1, 2027. Above the 6% threshold the PSC may appoint an Affordability Monitor to review cost drivers; the index will also feed performance incentives in utility executive compensation. Timing note: the announcement landed the same week as the $1B POWER rebate checks and the EAP enrollment drive, and two days after Blakeman's "peanuts" attack on the rebates. Nothing in the order lowers a bill before the election; the first measurable outputs arrive in 2027.