Everyone complains about their energy bills, but few take any action. In New York’s Hudson Valley, a coalition of officials, activists and community groups are trying to do just that by taking over their local utility.
On Wednesday, the coalition released a feasibility study by the Texas-based NewGen Strategies that found that replacing the utility, Central Hudson Gas & Electric, with a public authority was feasible and could result in customer savings within the first year of operation.
The savings are relatively modest — a tenth of a percent on gas and 2 percent on electric delivery rates — but they are expected to grow over time, particularly for electric customers, the study found.
Reducing energy bills is not the only goal; the coalition wants the state’s energy system to be more responsive to its customers and better positioned to respond to the climate crisis.
“The only way, like we’re only going to make our energy system work if we start talking about public ownership very seriously,” said Sarahana Shrestha, an assemblywoman representing Kingston and New Paltz, who has held roughly 18 town halls to build support for the project.
A public takeover faces significant hurdles. Neither Central Hudson nor its Canadian owner, Fortis Inc., has shown any interest in selling. The State Legislature has a bill, called the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act, that would empower the state to use eminent domain to buy out Central Hudson and create a public authority. But lawmakers traditionally have been reluctant to exert that kind of authority.
A spokesman for the Democratic majority in the Senate, Mike Murphy, said that lawmakers would discuss the bill in the next legislative session, adding that the body was “laser-focused on passing legislation that will lower the cost of utilities and provide reliable and clean energy for ratepayers.”
Stephanie Raymond, president of Central Hudson, said that a takeover “would come at a staggering cost to customers and taxpayers, without delivering the benefits promised by the supporters.”
The utility, which reports serving 315,000 electric and 90,000 natural gas customers in the mid-Hudson area, confirmed that it has no plans to sell.
Even so, the coalition hopes the report will help Ms. Shrestha and State Senator Michelle Hinchey persuade the State Legislature to replace the utility with a new Hudson Valley Power Authority.
In the first year, the system would be expected to save approximately $15.2 million annually, according to the study. By 10 years in, the annual savings would rise to $56 million and would continue to grow by Year 30 to over $200 million.
Such an authority would have lower overhead than the existing utility, the coalition says, because of its access to low cost debt in the form of tax-free bonds. It would also be free from the requirements placed on Central Hudson to share profits with shareholders, allowing it to keep prices lower.
A competing coalition, going by the name Protect Our Power, opposes the measure and is backed by Central Hudson, the Chambers of Commerce in Ulster, Orange and Dutchess Counties, and members of the utility workers union. The coalition has done its own study and said it backs up its contention that a takeover would drive up rates.
“Our members are the backbone of Central Hudson’s operations, and they take pride in keeping the lights on and the heat running for families across the Hudson Valley,” Steve Carroll, the president of IBEW Local 320, said in a statement. “A government takeover creates uncertainty for these skilled workers and risks disrupting the reliability customers depend on.”
The idea does have some historical precedent. In 1974, the upstate town of Massena voted decisively to buy out its grid operator, Niagara Mohawk. After seven years of legal fighting and three referendums, the town succeeded in taking control of the utility. Immediately, energy prices dropped between 20 and 26 percent.
The Hudson Valley takeover push comes as energy rates are soaring and as utilities navigate global supply chain uncertainty and aging infrastructure. Public power efforts have popped up in Rochester and on Long Island, though neither has yet taken hold.
And while few New Yorkers cherish their utility company — Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Trump reportedly traded complaints about Con Ed at their White House meeting last month — Central Hudson customers have more gripes than most.
In 2021, a new billing system resulted in late and missing bills, improper shut-offs and more than $16 million in inflated charges automatically withdrawn from customers’ bank accounts, according to a Public Service Commission report. The errors led the company to settle with the commission for nearly $65 million in 2024.
That same year, Central Hudson requested a rate hike of $181 million. The commission, which oversees utility rates, approved a smaller but still sizable increase that amounted to roughly $12 a month per customer.
That led Ms. Hinchey and others to call for reform of the commission.
“Access to utilities and to heat and electricity is not a luxury, this is something that people need, and we all need to survive,” she said. “If people can’t afford it, that’s unconscionable.”
Grace Ashford covers New York government and politics for The Times.
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