To the Editor: The issues that Central Hudson ratepayers are facing are not the fault of one company — they’re the fault of the entire system. After receiving double-digit increases, Con Edison is filing for yet another double-digit rate increase. Meanwhile, other corporate monopolies have also received rate increases across the state and the country.

A new report finds that over the last three years, investor-owned utilities’ residential electricity rates have increased by 49 percent more than inflation nationwide, while that of publicly owned counterparts have increased by 44 percent LESS than inflation. As of September 2024, nearly 25 percent of US households were unable to pay their energy bills in at least one month in the past year.

It’s not just Central Hudson, it’s all of them. And it’s not just now — people have been complaining about high rates from investor-owned utilities since the early 1900s, which is why former governors like Charles Evans and FDR were advocates of public power.

The obvious long-term solution is removing energy from for-profit ownership and reclaiming it as a public good. That’s what the small town of Massena did in 1981. After seven years of legal battles and referendums, it flipped the switch of a new publicly owned utility, dropping the utility bills by a quarter. We can do the same here by passing the Hudson Valley Power Authority Act and replacing Central Hudson with a democratic and accountable public benefit state corporation.

Steve Goodman

New Paltz