New Yorkers are feeling the heat in their energy bills, a consequence of a controversial decision that’s now under scrutiny. As the state grapples with its ambitious green energy goals amidst rising utility costs, the closure of a major nuclear power plant continues to loom large over these efforts.

The Indian Point Energy Center, once a critical provider of electricity to New York City and the Hudson Valley, shut its doors in 2021. This zero-emissions facility was responsible for supplying 25% of the area’s electricity. Its closure, fueled by environmental activists and backed by influential figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, is now being reconsidered as a strategic error, according to critics speaking to The Post.

Among those voices, energy experts are particularly vocal about the consequences of this move. “It was the safest nuclear power plant in the country. Closing it was ridiculous and insane—and now we’re paying the price,” remarked Rob Astorino, a former Republican Westchester County Executive. Astorino, who had previously embarked on a legal battle to keep Indian Point operational, notes the ongoing impact of its absence.

The closure of Indian Point has led to a reliance on natural gas, a shift that has ironically increased carbon emissions. This move undermines the goals of the Climate Change and Community Protection Act of 2019, which aims to reduce such emissions, Astorino pointed out. This situation underscores the complex balancing act New York faces in its pursuit of a sustainable energy future.

“It was the safest nuclear power plant in the country. Closing it was ridiculous and insane—and now we’re paying the price,” said former Republican Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who had filed a lawsuit to keep Indian Point open.

The irony is that the reliable “clean energy” from Indian Point was replaced with what environmentalists call “dirtier” natural gas — which increases carbon emissions that the Climate Change and Community Protection Act of 2019 aims to eliminate, said Astorino, who was the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate in 2014.

“The Democrats in charge — from Cuomo to Hochul to legislators — made this mess,” he said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul was lieutenant governor as Cuomo moved to close the plant.

Gavin Donohue, president and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York, lamented, “We lost a clean reliable source of electricity for the Hudson Valley and New York City.”

The criticism comes as Hochul is trying to address serious concerns about whether New York’s grid will be able to keep the lights on by laying the groundwork to ramp up new nuclear generators upstate.

Indian Point’s location in Buchanan, in the north part of suburban Westchester and 40 miles from the Bronx border, was ideal in terms of delivery to the metro area, experts said. But any new facility would likely be far away from New York City, requiring additional transmission infrastructure.

State Sen. Dan Stec (R-Warren), who served as a nuclear engineer officer in the Navy, said the Indian Point plant was in “a spot that made sense” and it was a “schizophrenic” and “political” move to shut it down.

“It was closed prematurely and it was closed, I think, in large part due to political considerations,” Stec told The Post.

Other critics said closing Indian Point was wrong from both an energy reliability and environmental perspective.

“It was a huge mistake to close Indian Point. We’re behind on meeting the CLCPA [the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act] because we took Indian Point off the chessboard,” said Paul Zuber, executive vice president of the New York State Chamber of Commerce.

A 2024 report by a pro-nuclear energy think tank, titled “Autopsy of a Perfect Policy Failure: The Closure of Indian Point,” said mothballing the plant has increased New York’s reliance on volatile gas prices.

Natural gas contributed half of the state’s electricity generation in 2023, up from 39% in 2017 when Indian Point was open, said the Foundation for Research on Equality Opportunity.

The report noted that energy prices had spiked since Indian Point’s closure.

If Indian Point had remained operational, New York would have produced 8 fewer metric megatons of carbon dioxide or CO2 in 2022, the report said.

“The plant’s closure complicates New York’s decarbonization goals, especially downstate, which is reliant on natural gas to maintain grid reliability,” the group added.

A report commissioned by the Westchester County Chamber of Commerce in 2012 warned closing Indian Point would lead to higher electric prices, deteriorating air quality and job losses.

“Let’s make sure this never happens,” John Ravitz, executive vice president of the Westchester Chamber, recalled saying at the time.

The report, he said, fell on deaf ears.

A dogged Cuomo rep defended the former governor’s decision to close Indian Point, contending the plant’s position on a fault-line made it a terror target.

“It was a potential terror target,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi. “There was no contingency plan to evacuate people.”

He also said there were plans for other power sources, such as offshore wind, to make up for the loss of Indian Point.

“These projects fell behind schedule,” Azzopardi said.

Hochul, who was Cuomo’s lieutenant governor during the phase-out of the Indian Point power plant, made clear she didn’t want to share any blame.

Her office provided a letter that Hochul sent to Westchester County Executive Kenneth Jenkins last fall distancing herself from the closure of Indian Point, though she opposes reopening a nuclear plant at the site.

“The decision to close and decommission Indian Pont preceded my administratjon and I believe was done in haste,” Hochul said in the Oct. 10, 2025 letter to Jenkins.

“We lost 25 percent of the power that was going to New York City without having a plan B in place,” she said.

She plans to bring hydro power from Quebec down to the city via transmission lines to make up for the power lost from Indian Point, rather than reopen a nuclear plant in Buchanan.

One energy expert said Indian Point was not a panacea.

The state would have had to put up millions of dollars in subsidies to keep Indian Point operational, like Albany does for the state’s four upstate nuclear plants, said John Howard, a former chairman of the Public Service Commission.

There were significant environmental and pollution issues at the site along the banks of the Hudson River, he added.