To no one’s surprise – the Public Service Commission is at it again.
Central Hudson didn’t get the full rate hike they wanted last year so they applied for another and, earlier this month, the Public Service Commission rubber-stamped their request. This will increase costs for ratepayers over the next three years, and generate an estimated $96 million in profit for Central Hudson.
I am once again calling for a complete overhaul of the PSC. This agency is supposed to serve the public, but has failed New Yorkers again and again. This rate hike – and similar ones from Orange & Rockland – makes clear the Public Service Commission’s loyalty belongs to utility company shareholders.
The PSC is an embarrassing disgrace of a regulatory body: Their evaluation process is a racket and everyone knows it. The Legislature needs to clean house, fumigate the house, then tear down the house to its studs. We are far past tinkering around the edges at the PSC and need a massive overhaul of the system that makes life more and more unaffordable in this state by the day, including passage of my bill to cap utility profits at 4% (they’re currently at 9-10%). These utilities and the PSC apparently need it spelled out for them: The Hudson Valley is not their ATM and New Yorkers ought not be their piggy banks.
