New York Senate Democrats rejected legislation sponsored by Republican Sen. Tom O’Mara that he says would provide immediate relief to ratepayers from skyrocketing utility bills.

O’Mara’s legislation (S.8461) would have allowed unspent funds in the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) Climate Investment Account to be returned directly to ratepayers.

The senator, of Big Flats, said at a time when many New Yorkers are facing a crisis trying to pay skyrocketing utility bills, the unspent NYSERDA funds, collected through a surcharge on ratepayers’ utility bills, is at least $2 billion that could be returned directly to households.

O’Mara, a member on the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, said, “Should New York state just keep on asking ratepayers to bear the burden of what’s become, at best, a questionable climate agenda? It seems to me that carrying in excess of $2 billion of ratepayers’ funds from year to year would be better returned to the ratepayers given the significant increases in the cost of electricity in New York, over a 50% increase from January 2020 to October 2025.”

O’Mara’s legislation was offered as an amendment on the Senate floor Thursday, but it was rejected unanimously by the majority Democrats.

O’Mara raised the issue with top Hochul administration officials at a legislative budget hearing in Albany last week. He and other Republican members on the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee also sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul this week urging her to direct NYSERDA to return the unspent funds to ratepayers.