When dangerous heat hits, a utility shutoff can quickly become a health emergency. That is why a watchdog finding that several New York utilities appear to have used the same author for their "heat island" maps is drawing scrutiny.
Those maps determine who receives added shutoff protections after severe heat, so how they were created matters.
Here's what to know
According to the Energy and Policy Institute, metadata on heat island filings submitted June 1, 2026, by four New York utilities identified a single author. The name listed was Jake Reinert, Central Hudson's senior program manager for energy policy and regulation.
The filings were the utilities' first required effort to map heat islands in their service territories under a March order from the New York Public Service Commission. People who live within those areas get two extra days of shutoff protection after an extreme heat event, so the placement of those boundaries can determine which households stay connected and which remain vulnerable.
The companies that filed on June 1 were Central Hudson; National Grid's Niagara Mohawk; Orange & Rockland, part of Consolidated Edison; and Avangrid's New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric.
Heat is already a major public health risk, and Earth's warming is intensifying it. In New York City, about 500 people die from heat-related causes each year, the Energy and Policy Institute reported.
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More background
The questions around the heat-island maps emerged amid broader worries that New York's investor-owned utilities had been coordinating to push back on stronger consumer protections, according to the Energy and Policy Institute. The Public Utility Law Project of New York told regulators that the documents repeated identical wording in several places.
Consumer and climate advocates had urged the commission to stop nonpayment shutoffs once the heat index reached 85 degrees, saying that the lower threshold would protect more people on more days. But the March order set the standard at 90 degrees, even though roughly two-thirds of heat-exacerbated deaths in New York City occur when temperatures feel between 82 and 95 degrees.
Utilities had favored that 90-degree threshold, and it is the one regulators ultimately adopted. The New York Times reported that the companies had quietly coordinated their approach, including sharing data and editing a consultant's proposal before it was submitted.
If utilities influence both the rules and the maps that govern shutoff protections, families facing financial strain during heat waves could be left with less protection than they need.
What's being done?
Gov. Kathy Hochul called comments from PSEG Long Island "completely unacceptable" and directed the Public Service Commission to review utility shutoff practices, per the Energy and Policy Institute. That separate investigation is still ongoing.
The utilities discussed in the metadata review said they had done nothing wrong. Spokespeople for Niagara Mohawk, Orange & Rockland, and Central Hudson said they collaborated on common heat-island criteria while maintaining that each utility performed its own analysis for its specific territory, per the Energy and Policy Institute. Avangrid did not answer a request for comment.
The commission will take public comments on the heat-island analyses through Sept. 8.
An Orange & Rockland spokesperson said of the collaboration, "Coordinating, particularly in instances like this, is a standard and necessary part of how the joint utilities help ensure consistent, accurate information for Staff and stakeholders," per the Energy and Policy Institute.
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