A bill sponsored by Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson (D-104) and Senator Michelle Hinchey (D-41) that prevents utilities like Central Hudson from getting automatic rate increases has been passed into law as part of the State Budget.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is responsible for evaluating rate requests made by utilities in New York State. Previously, if the PSC denied a utility’s request for a rate increase without putting an alternative in place, the utility would automatically receive the full increase amount it requested.

The bill proposed by Jacobson (A2740) and carried in the Senate by Hinchey (S8491) requires a utility’s existing rate to stay in effect if the PSC rejects a rate increase request and doesn’t propose an alternative. This legislation was included in the State Budget and became law as part of the budget vote.

“For too long, utilities have held customers hostage to their demands. Now, if the PSC determines that the rate increase should be zero, it will be zero. There will be no automatic increases for Central Hudson and other providers,” said Jacobson.

“New York has some of the oldest and most archaic utility laws in the country, including one that gives utility companies their requested increase automatically if they and the PSC can’t come to an agreement in a rate case,” said Hinchey. “This rule is upside down and backwards and was designed to favor the utility company, not the ratepayer. That changes today. Our bill eliminates this possibility, ensuring more money back in people’s pockets and forcing the utility company to come to the table in good faith instead of gaming the system to increase their profits. I thank the Majority Leader and my partners in government for including this commonsense and effective law in the ratepayer protection package in our final budget.”

This law is the latest effort by Jacobson and Hinchey to control utility costs and end bad billing practices by utilities like Central Hudson, which serves both legislators’ districts. Their previous bills, requiring a full explanation of capital expenses included in rate increase requests (A2736/S8213) and putting limits on backbilling (A4055/S4234), were signed into law in recent years.