Kingston, NY – On the heels of the Public Service Commission's unanimous vote to approve Central Hudson’s rate increases for the next three years, Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha wrapped up a series of six town halls on why and how to replace Central Hudson with a publicly-owned not for profit corporation. The town halls were held in Gardiner, Olive, Saugerties, Woodstock, Rhinebeck, and Rosendale, with a total of over 600 attending.

“What we saw in the PSC’s unanimous vote to approve rate increases for Central Hudson is that customers will never get the low rates and the twenty-first century grid they need as long as our energy utilities are profit-earning vehicles for investor-owners,” said Shrestha, ”During their deliberation, state regulators explicitly told us that the approved rates must balance affordability concerns against shareholders’ constitutional right to earn a reasonable return on investment. Everyone laughed at this statement at our town halls, but that right there is the root of the problem. In an investor-owned model, the needs of the investors are as important as the needs of the public. Our solutionis to get rid of investor-owners altogether: We’ve already spent more than a century waging a regulatory battle to lower profits on energy delivery, and what we’re saying now is that we’ve had enough, we no longer want to waste our time on a futile effort to lower profits, we want to eliminate profits altogether. As I explained at our town halls, it’s not just the current rate increases that we’re concerned about, it’s the permanent path of excessive rate increases this ownership model puts us on. When you have a financing model where every shareholder investment in an aging and bloated capital infrastructure increases profits for shareholders, it means two things: unnecessarily high rate increases will go on forever, and the scale of investments our grid needs become either too cost prohibitive or not profitable enough. Stuck on the lose-lose end of this quandary is the public. The only winners in the current model are the investors.

It was important for us to do these town halls, and continue other forms of public outreach, because as we build local support to win the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act, the main battle is going to be a battle of information. We’ve already had Central Hudson hand out counter-information at our town halls, and to sustain the support for our bill, it’s important that people have the right information from us from the get-go. As we saw in Maine, where the parent companies of investor-owned utilities outspent the ballot proposal for public-ownership by 20 to 1, the information war, when it really takes off, becomes a war of who has more money.”

Comments from attendees:

Marc Cassidy, Rosendale Town Board Member: “I came to the town hall to get a better understanding of the viability of replacing Central Hudson with a state corporation that could provide affordable and reliable energy services.I left the town hall convinced that Hudson Valley Power Authority is the needed solution.”

Jeff Cohen, Saugerties Resident: “I think I spoke for virtually the entire packed room at the town hall when I said how proud I was to be represented in Albany by Sarahana. While many of us have long-standing complaints about Central Hudson (I've been a CH customer for decades), what was uplifting about the town hall was that it was positive. Sarahana offered a solution, laid it out clearly and in detail – and answered all our questions about the Hudson Valley Power Authority. She has many constituents ready and eager to transition from an incompetent, out-of-touch, for-profit entity to a more responsive public institution with democratic/community inputs.”

Bethany Richardson, Catskill Resident: “I attended the Rhinebeck meeting even though I live in Catskill. I was impressed with Assemblymember Shrestha's command of the subject and ability to answer all questions in a clear and concise manner.Even when there were some contentious questions Ms. Shrestha was kind and able to respond with respect for the question and make a strong case for public utilities. I'm very excited at the prospect of having lower energy costs and am hopeful we can follow in the footsteps of those publicly run utilities who have some of the lowest energy costs in the country.”

Michael Zierler, New Paltz Resident: “I have been following with great interest Assemblymember Shrestha's efforts to create the Hudson Valley Power Authority. I attended the Rosendale meeting to get an update and was delighted to see a standing room only crowd. The presentation was fabulous: clear and succinct presentation, great slides, and compelling reasons why we need a municipal power authority, not an investor-owned utility. My electric bills have continued to rise, breaking $400 last month. It is unsustainable, yet there is little we can do—we can't have our electricity delivered from a different utility. We need to upset the apple cart and make our electric utility a not-for-profit, state owned entity, and one that is committed to a clean, just, equitable and innovative future.”

Phyllis Clark, Saugerties resident: “We were interested in the facts and figures of a profit-making utility vs. not-for-profit. It seems clear that we, as customers, can benefit from the Hudson Valley Power Authority. Just to see how communities like Austin and Massena have fared gives us hope for a more equitable future.”

Adam Liebowitz, Marbletown Resident:” It was so helpful to hear more of the details of the HVPA, and to have Sarahana there walking us all through it in person was amazing. I was already sold on public utilities, but this information got me even more excited.”

Dear Alec,

We saw in the Public Service Commission’s unanimous vote to approve rate increases for Central Hudson that customers will never get the low rates and the twenty-first century grid they deserve as long as our energy utilities are profit-earning vehicles for investor-owners. During their deliberation, state regulators explicitly told us that the approved rates must balance “affordability concerns against shareholders’ constitutional right to earn a reasonable return on investment.”

And that right there is the root of the problem! It's why we introduced the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act to replace Central Hudson with a not-for-profit publicly-owned corporation. Here's a recap from six town halls we did last month to discuss this topic and take questions. Thank you to the over 600 people who attended, and to the libraries, towns, and theaters who hosted us.

Woodstock drew about a hundred people on an especially hot day Saturday.

The Department of Public Service's own statements have made the root issue clear: in a model where investors are allowed to own a utility, the needs of the investors are as important as the needs of the public. Our solution, in that case, is to get rid of investor-owners altogether. The truth is, we have collectively spent more than a century already waging a regulatory battle to lower profits on energy delivery, and what we’re saying now is that we’ve had enough. We no longer want to waste our time on a futile effort to lower profits, we want to eliminate profits altogether. As I explained at our town halls, it’s not just the current rate increases that we’re concerned about, it’s the permanent path of excessive rate increases this ownership model puts us on.

We kicked off our six town halls in an intimate setting at the Gardiner Library

When you have a financing model where every shareholder investment in an aging and bloated capital infrastructure increases profits for shareholders, it means two things: unnecessarily high rate increases will go on forever, and the scale of investments our grid needs become either too cost prohibitive or not profitable enough. Stuck on the lose-lose end of this quandary is the public. The only winners in the current model are the investors.

Olive residents packed the Olive Free Library, camping chairs included!

We're thrilled that every town hall we did last month had a packed attendance. We chose venues that were a mix of small and big so that we could provide more intimate conversations but enough capacity to fit a lot of people in total. All in all, over 600 people attended, with a strong finish in Rosendale, where 200 attended with standing-room only attendance.

We were fortunate to be able to host our Saugerties town hall at the Orpheum Theatre

It was important for us to do these town halls because as we build local support to win the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act, the main battle is going to be a battle of information. We’ve already had Central Hudson hand out counter-information at our town halls, and to sustain the support for our bill, it’s important that people have the right information from us from the get-go. As we saw in Maine, where the parent companies of investor-owned utilities outspent the ballot proposal for public-ownership by 20 to 1, the information war, when it really takes off, becomes a war of who has more money. We hope to do more of these events in other cities and towns next year, and in the meantime, we'll be posting a recording of the presentation in the coming weeks.

Rhinebeck was another packed intimate gathering at the Starr Library. We hope to bring the town hall to a bigger venue in Red Hook next year!

We finished strong in Rosendale, with 200 attendees. We look forward to seeing you at more town halls in the future.

Testimonials from attendees:

“I came to the town hall to get a better understanding of the viability of replacing Central Hudson with a state corporation that could provide affordable and reliable energy services.I left the town hall convinced that Hudson Valley Power Authority is the needed solution.”

—MARC CASSIDY, ROSENDALE TOWN BOARD MEMBER

“I think I spoke for virtually the entire packed room at the town hall when I said how proud I was to be represented in Albany by Sarahana. While many of us have long-standing complaints about Central Hudson (I've been a CH customer for decades), what was uplifting about the town hall was that it was positive. Sarahana offered a solution, laid it out clearly and in detail – and answered all our questions about the Hudson Valley Power Authority. She has many constituents ready and eager to transition from an incompetent, out-of-touch, for-profit entity to a more responsive public institution with democratic/community inputs.”

—JEFF COHEN, SAUGERTIES RESIDENT

“I attended the Rhinebeck meeting even though I live in Catskill. I was impressed with Assemblymember Shrestha's command of the subject and ability to answer all questions in a clear and concise manner.Even when there were some contentious questions Ms. Shrestha was kind and able to respond with respect for the question and make a strong case for public utilities. I'm very excited at the prospect of having lower energy costs and am hopeful we can follow in the footsteps of those publicly run utilities who have some of the lowest energy costs in the country.”

—BETHANY RICHARDSON, CATSKILL RESIDENT

“I have been following with great interest Assemblymember Shrestha's efforts to create the Hudson Valley Power Authority. I attended the Rosendale meeting to get an update and was delighted to see a standing room only crowd. The presentation was fabulous: clear and succinct presentation, great slides, and compelling reasons why we need a municipal power authority, not an investor-owned utility. My electric bills have continued to rise, breaking $400 last month. It is unsustainable, yet there is little we can do – we can't have our electricity delivered from a different utility. We need to upset the apple cart and make our electric utility a not-for-profit, state owned entity, and one that is committed to a clean, just, equitable and innovative future.”

—MICHAEL ZIERLER, NEW PALTZ RESIDENT

“It was so helpful to hear more of the details of the HVPA, and to have Sarahana there walking us all through it in person was amazing. I was already sold on public utilities, but this information got me even more excited”

—ADAM LIEBOWITZ, MARBLETOWN RESIDENT

If you attended a town hall and want to share your testimony, just write back to this email! Hope to see you at another public event in the near future,