Today, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Endwell) was joined by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) at a press conference in Binghamton to discuss the impact of a “price-fixing scheme” run by the New York Independent Systems Operator (ISO) on electricity bills for local residents and businesses in the Southern Tier.

The ISO is the not-for-profit corporation that sets the wholesale electricity prices in New York. Since deregulation in 1999, the ISO has administered the electricity market and prices.

“New York’s electric rates are now the 4th highest in the nation,” said Lupardo. “We need to reform the ISO’s complex auction system to reduce costs for homeowners and businesses. Under the current system, power plants can submit high bids or withhold power to game the system and inflate prices, which are then passed along to the consumer.”

As part of his “First Protector” platform, Brodsky has laid out a plan to stop this price-fixing mechanism. The current system being run by the NYISO is costing New Yorkers statewide over $2 billion. Under Brodsky’s plan, local residents and businesses could save as much as 20 percent on their electric bills annually leading to millions of dollars in savings for people in the Southern Tier.

Brodsky said that he would use the Attorney General’s jurisdiction over not-for-profit corporations to investigate the ISO. He is calling for an auction system where utilities pay the price power plants actually bid.