FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ciro Riccardi | ciro@lawlerforcongress.com | (845) 642-6569
Every utility rate increase in New York is approved by Kathy Hochul’s Public Service Commission, a record so bad that Democratic state senators are pushing to restructure the agency. Cait Conley has watched it all without one critical word for the people who actually set the rates. If she won’t name who raised the bills, why should voters believe she’ll lower them?
Pearl River, NY — August 04, 2026… Today, the Lawler for Congress campaign released a new video responding to Democrat Cait Conley’s energy attack and to the House Majority Forward ad that began airing this week, both of which blame Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) for utility rates he has no legal authority to set.
Under state law, every utility rate increase in New York is approved by the Public Service Commission: seven commissioners, every one appointed by the governor. Every hike Hudson Valley families have paid since Mike took office in the NYS Assembly came out of that building:
- Con Edison (southern Westchester): approved unanimously on January 22, 2026.
- Orange & Rockland (all of Rockland): three-year increases took effect April 1, 2025.
- Central Hudson (Dutchess and parts of Putnam): multi-year increases approved August 14, 2025.
- NYSEG (northern Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess): 35% electric delivery request pending before the same commission right now.
Other Hudson Valley Democrats know where rates are set. State Senators James Skoufis and Shelley Mayer are pushing to restructure the PSC over these approvals, and State Senator Pete Harckham called the Con Ed decision unacceptable. Not one of them pointed at Congress.
Since Democrats took full control of Albany in 2019, the record speaks for itself. New York electricity prices are up 58%, against 36% nationally, per EIA data compiled by the Empire Center, the fourth-highest in the country. Albany closed Indian Point and took 2,080 megawatts of carbon-free power off the grid; downstate generation went from 77% fossil-fueled to 89% in a single year, according to the grid operator. Albany blocked the Constitution and NESE pipelines for a decade, a blockade that froze new gas hookups across most of suburban Westchester in 2019. And Albany passed a climate law that NYSERDA, the governor’s own energy agency, projects will cost households more than $4,000 a year. In Con Edison territory alone, more than 414,000 households are 60 or more days behind on their bills, owing $871 million.
“Let’s be crystal clear: Albany Democrats closed Indian Point, banned natural gas extraction, blocked pipelines for a decade, and passed a climate law their own energy agency says will cost families more than $4,000 a year. Now Kathy Hochul claims she wants to rebuild nuclear plants and allow the pipeline, because even she knows Albany Democrats broke the grid. Hudson Valley families pay for those choices every single month. I’ll keep fighting for an all-of-the-above energy policy that actually lowers costs, and I won’t let anyone rewrite the record of who sent these bills through the roof,” said Congressman Mike Lawler.
Governor Hochul and legislative Democrats rolled back CLCPA mandates in this year’s budget, admitting their failed policies are to blame. In June 2025, Hochul directed the Power Authority to build new nuclear plants, saying herself that taking nuclear off the table means “the only way to do that is more fossil fuels.” And in November, her administration permitted the NESE pipeline Albany Democrats spent a decade blocking.
“Cait Conley and House Majority Forward are betting Hudson Valley families were born yesterday and don’t know who sets their utility bills, but they’re right about one thing: the bills are unaffordable. Kathy Hochul’s Public Service Commission approved every single one of those increases, hike by hike, and Cait Conley has never said a critical word about her favorite governor. She’s running cover for the people who raised your utility bills. So here’s a simple question for Cait, yes or no: do Kathy Hochul and her commission that approved a 58% run-up bear any responsibility for it?” said Ciro Riccardi, Campaign Manager for Lawler for Congress.
The video can be found HERE.