Program directory — New York State
Residential Rate for Religious Buildings (PSL §76)
A New York law most treasurers have never heard of: a house of worship cannot be charged more than the residential rate for gas and electricity.
Reclassification to the residential service rate, which is often meaningfully cheaper than the commercial rate the building may have been quietly placed on. This is a billing correction, not a rebate — it repeats every month.
Buildings owned or leased by corporations or associations “organized and conducted in good faith for religious purposes” — including schools they operate — where the service is used exclusively for those purposes. The statute also covers veterans' organization posts and certain small not-for-profit community residences.
The red pencil says
“Used exclusively” matters: a sanctuary with a commercial tenant on the same meter can complicate the claim. The rate check in every Payback Plan looks at exactly this.
Write to your utility (each has a religious/veterans rate reclassification process — at some utilities this is service classification SC1) and cite Public Service Law §76. If the utility resists, the NYS Department of Public Service takes complaints. The statute text is the application's backbone.
The link goes straight to New York Public Service Law — Lightkeeper has no referral or commission relationship with this program or any contractor in it. The pledge applies here too. Entry last re-read 2026-07-16; program terms are theirs to change.
Your Payback Plan checks this program — and the other 10 in the directory — against your actual building and bills, free for congregations and nonprofits.