“At eight years old, the first thing I learned how to steal wasn't candy or toys, it was electricity,” said Shelby Aho, a member of the Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) from Newburgh, “and now Central Hudson is asking for yet another rate hike, and that feels like stealing; to me, that feels like a crime.”

On June 8, dozens of protesters gathered in the Academy Green Park in Kingston to protest Central Hudson’s proposal to the Public Service Commission (PSC) for a 16 percent increase in electric rates and a 26.5 percent increase in gas rates by 2027. According to Anna Markowitz, the executive director of Communities for Local Power, for the past four or five years, Central Hudson changed their billing system. This meant people were getting bills that were “astronomically high.”

“With the joint proposal coming up, now is really the time to tell the public service commission that they need to reject the joint proposal,” Markowitz said. “We wanted to show that this is still an issue in Kingston.”

Daniel Atonna, a political coordinator for For the Many, said that Central Hudson often asks for a “really big increase,” knowing that the PSC will not give them the full increase they asked for, but still allowing them to raise prices.

Sarah Mecom, from Woodstock, says that she attended the protest because “I think we have no choice. It’s just not right that people should profit off of what is normal utilities.” As someone on a fixed income, covering her electric bill is challenging, and a rate increase would mean she has to take away from other necessities in her life.

“The biggest difference between living here and where we used to live is that our bill is approximately three times as high as in the same house,” Jayme, a protester who moved to Kingston last year, said. “It’s not even the supply, it’s the delivery. On our last bill that we got, it was almost three times as much as the supply charge.”

According to Markowitz and Atonna, the protest has both a short-term goal of telling the PSC to reject Central Hudson’s proposal and a long-term goal to pass the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act, which would be a public takeover of Central Hudson. This means, rather than Central Hudson being a for-profit company, it would be a public benefit corporation.

The bill is supported by State Sen. Michele Hinchey and State Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, who spoke at the protest. According to Shrestha, the company’s interest in providing shareholder profits means that Central Hudson will charge what they think they should charge, and the PSC will “intervene lightly” and give them half of what they asked for, and the public will have no say except for public hearings when rate hikes are proposed.

While both Shrestha and Hinchey are both Democrats, Atonna said that it is not just the left that supports the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act. At a Poughkeepsie town hall a month ago, Atonna says they received applause from Republicans.

“I have talked to many, many people who are not socialist or even remotely progressive who support this idea,” Atonna said. “That's how irresponsible Central Hudson has been with these increases. People are struggling. Meanwhile, Central Hudson is talking about how they want to make more and more profits for their shareholders and their CEO.”

Atonna, who gave a speech at the rally, said that when he was a child, Central Hudson shut off their heat because of unpaid bills. His mother worked two jobs but still could not afford utilities. He and his sister had to go to work with their mother at night because “the house was so cold we could see our breath indoors.”

Central Hudson’s proposed rate hike comes after the company paid a $64.59 million settlement for their multi-year billing issues. The PSC is expected to rule on the proposed rate increases in the coming months, likely in August or September.