Advocates push for public ownership of Hudson Valley energy company

There are few unifying gripes in New York like utility bills. Climate change gets worse and people’s bills go up, regardless of ideological stance or region. Some activists and elected officials have proposed that utilities move to a publicly owned model, something that New York has toyed with in the past, even creating the New York Power Authority in 1931. But somehow. it never comes to fruition, even with clear support. 

In May, Assembly Member Sarahana Shrestha and state Sen. Michelle Hinchey introduced the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act in an effort to regulate utility costs for ratepayers in embattled provider Central Hudson’s coverage area. The bill would authorize the conversion of Central Hudson, which is currently owned by the for-profit international energy company Fortis, into a publicly owned entity while increasing its reliance on clean energy. Shrestha is hopeful about the bill’s prospects, with plans underway for a multiyear legislative push, but public power in New York isn’t always so cut-and-dry. 

Last session, the Long Island Power Authority and the Public Service Enterprise Group were eyed by lawmakers for a public takeover. Currently, Long Island ratepayers receive energy under a bespoke arrangement where Long Island Power Authority provides the actual energy but PSEG delivers it to households. Though PSEG escaped the “Pat Ryan treatment,” a 2023 state legislative commision found that the Long Island Power Authority could save ratepayers money while increasing efficiency by delivering power itself instead of relying on PSEG. Assembly Member Fred Thiele introduced legislation that would have followed through on that thinking, but a mixture of lobbying and a lack of support from the state Senate and organized labor prevented the retiring lawmaker’s bill from gaining any traction.

One of the biggest hurdles that public power advocates face is hostility from organized labor. Unions like the local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – which represent workers at Long Island Power Authority, Central Hudson and other for-profit energy companies – have either opposed or expressed hesitation toward the conversion of power companies to public ownership for fear of jeopardizing their current benefits and job protections.

The Long Island Power Authority successfully mobilized organized labor to oppose Thiele’s bill. Similarly, in the Hudson Valley, Central Hudson is spinning a possible move to public power as a blow to its employees. 

“We think that municipalization of the utilities is not the best option for the communities that we serve,” said Joe Jenkins, a spokesperson for Central Hudson.“The proposed legislation explicitly calls for the elimination of jobs held by some of the hardworking central hunting employees, mostly in what they call the non renewable energy sector. We believe elimination of jobs is a non-starter. You know, the planned elimination of these roles seemingly done without any real analysis into the potential safety and reliability implications that it might have.”

While there is little debate over the fact that utility bills have gone up, forgotten in the fight over public energy is the reality that union workers pay the rates themselves and the construction of clean energy products could, at least tangentially, benefit them. The Build Public Renewables Act, pushed for by Shrestha and passed in 2023, would, in theory, create union jobs in support of large scale renewable energy projects and advocates say that to suggest that public power would somehow create less jobs ignores that fact.

Public power advocates also point to the success of the New York Power Authority, a publicly owned utility that provides affordable energy to the New York City metro area and parts of western and northern New York.  

“Those towns and municipalities that benefit from NYPA’s power tend to have the lowest electricity rates in the state compared to Con Edison, compared to Central Hudson or compared to Central Hudson,” Public Power New York Coalition Co-Chair Patrick Robbins said. “If it is so beneficial, why isn’t (public power) more widespread? I think that you do have many decades of misinformation from the utilities and frankly, very often, complicit regulatory apparatus to blame for why this model isn’t more widespread.”

“We’ll see the proof when we have people being put to work,” Robbins added. 

Shrestha, who was involved in public power activism even before winning election to the Legislature, said that anecdotal evidence supporting the shift to a public power model isn’t enough. She said that advocates must work to win over local lawmakers in the Hudson Valley, as well as work with organizations like For the Many, a grassroots progressive activist organization, that can aid outreach to ratepayers, many of whom are already incensed by recent rate increase requests Central Hudson has made to the state Public Service Commission.

“We have to convince local legislators at the local level – towns, villages – that they should also support this bill,” Shrestha said. “We have to convince state senators and assembly members in the service territory that their constituents want them to support this bill, because the truth is, all of us, whether we're Democrats, whether we're Republicans, you know, we're all confronted with feeling pretty helpless about what to do in helping us deal with Central Hudson. “

Meanwhile, Central Hudson is making its case to those same legislators.

“We have regular conversations with all of our elected officials, and regardless of the level at which they serve, whether it be our local, local community or municipal leaders, all the way up to our state and federal officials, we have regular conversations with them about legislation,“  Jenkins said.

Thiele expects the push for public power in the Hudson Valley to just as contentious as it was in his Long Island district. But he said that he retains hope that the fight will continue even after he has left Albany.

“I'm leaving office at the end of the year, but it's still something that I'm committed to. And I think, you know, we have a piece of legislation or a report that, you know, certainly can still be the template for the future,” Thiele said. “But you know, no one should underestimate the special interests and the forces that will come out to oppose public power, I think that the same forces will be in place in the Hudson Valley as certainly was the case on Long Island.“

Shrestha added that conviction of ratepayers and advocates for public energy sources will ultimately be the deciding factor in their campaign. 

“I think sometimes optimism is almost useless in politics,” Shrestha said. “I think it's more that you have to stick with your goal and of course, if you're fighting for something, you have to have some sort of belief that it's possible, which I guess you could call optimism, but at the same time, you should never assume that it's gonna be easy.”