GILLESPIE

faced with the accumulated debt? It is not hard to foresee the result; it’s right in front of our eyes.

In the city of Kingston’s uptown neighborhood, on Wall Street, a quarter of the storefronts are already vacant. People who have already lost their jobs will have to move, or move again; many will lose their homes.

In an economically advanced society like ours, energy is a human right. During the pandemic, more than ever, people and businesses are dependent on electricity for communication, for work, for schooling, for getting the word out about their products and services and the ways they are creatively adapting to reach and serve customers during the pandemic. Looking ahead, as we transition away from fossil fuels in response to the climate crisis, the role of electrification will only increase. The situation is not tenable.

It’s time for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature to recognize electrical power as the essential public service that is. Utilities, their owners, and the Public Service Commission need to address the public emergency by finding a way to offer debt forgiveness to the residents and businesses that have suffered COVID -19-related damages. Central Hudson and the other “public” (investor-owned) utilities must live up to the genuinely public mission that affords them their special protected status by lowering, not raising, their profit margins and by postponing nonessential capital investments, even if it means foregoing the profit they would earn on the increased equity. Finding funds to forgive the spiraling debt of utility residential and nonresidential customers is essential for the future, indeed for the survival, of our people and businesses — and for the utilities themselves and their business model.