WASHINGTON, DC — On Thursday, January 22, Representative Josh Riley (NY-19) launched the Congressional Lowering Utility Bills Caucus, a group of lawmakers dedicated to finding legislative solutions to the ongoing energy affordability crisis. The caucus will convene House Members around oversight strategies and tools to hold utility providers accountable for rate hikes.

"When I talk with folks across Upstate New York, the first question I ask is: what's keeping you up at night and how can I help? And the most common answer is that utility bills are out of control and need to be reined in,” said  Riley. “Too many working families are being put to an impossible choice of either keeping the lights on or paying for the mortgage or groceries. Meanwhile, the utility monopolies are making record profits while jacking up rates. It's unacceptable. I'm launching the Congressional Lowering Utility Bills Caucus to provide a forum for members of Congress to work together on legislation to take on the utility monopolies and lower their customers’ bills.”

During the event, Riley touted his legislation to prohibit foreign corporations from owning American utility providers and ban executive bonuses at utility companies raising rates. Riley also discussed his experience directly intervening in state rate cases to protect consumers from unjustified increases. Mark Ellis of the American Economic Liberties Project also discussed policy, legal, and regulatory tools available to Members of Congress to help reduce utility bills in their districts.

The other lawmakers on the caucus include Reps. Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Laura Gillen (NY-04), Eugene Vindman (VA-07), Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), John Mannion (NY-22), Mike Levin (CA-49), Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Chris Pappas (NH-01), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Pat Ryan (NY-18), Glenn Ivey (MD-04), Ami Bera (CA-06), Gabe Vasquez (NM-02), and Seth Magaziner (RI-02).

“For years, I’ve fought alongside my community – first as Ulster County Executive, then as a Congressman, and always as a fellow ratepayer – against Central Hudson’s exploitative practices. We have to ask ourselves, what kind of system would let Central Hudson jack up its rates by 9.5%, give their own executives tens of millions in bonuses, and pretend it's a win for Hudson Valley families? The answer is a fundamentally broken one, which puts the profits of foreign-owned corporate monopolies above the good of our community,” said  Ryan. “As we’re all feeling the squeeze of the affordability crisis, I’m proud to be joining a group of fighters who represent hardworking Americans in every corner of the country. Alongside my Hudson Valley neighbor Josh Riley, we’re coming together to form a complete picture of how these monopolistic companies are ripping off our communities. Together, we’re working to write comprehensive legislation to hold these companies accountable, bring down costs for consumers, and fix the predatory system once and for all.”