Have you had enough of RG&E profitting off of failure for decades? Join Metro Justice in calling for a tried and true solution: a public utility! At last month's public comment session for Rochester City Council, we packed the room! We need the City Council to approve funding for an implementation study in the draft City Budget due to April 1st, so it's important that we keep the pressure on in March. 

Public utilities across the nation are proven to be more affordable, reliable, renewable, and economically beneficial to their local communities than private utilities. Rochester area residents have a chance for a real solution - NY state law states that with an implementation study and a positive referendum, RG&E would be forced to sell to the public. 

Public utilities across the nation are proven to be more affordable, reliable, renewable, and economically beneficial to their local communities than private utilities. Rochester area residents have a chance for a real solution - NY state law states that with an implementation study and a positive referendum, RG&E would be forced to sell to the public. 

It's time to call on the Rochester City Council to take the RG&E crisis seriously and take the first step towards a solution: allocating up to $500 thousand by April 1st for an implementation study on taking over RG&E in Rochester and Monroe County area and turning it into a public utility. City Council has the money, including up to $2 million of unspent money from the 2022 budget. This $500 thousand would go towards a joint fund with Monroe County, so that the City and County are partnering to commission the study. This study would give us a comprehensive road map for establishing a public utility that is affordable, responsive to your needs, local, renewable, and invested in our local workforce and economy.

City Council has the power to stop $108 million a year from bleeding out of our community to line RG&E's shareholders' pockets despite gross mismanagement. They owe it to residents to act on the RG&E crisis, and they need to hear from you to do so! 

The next City Council meeting is Thursday, March 16th at Rochester City Hall (30 Church Street, Rochester, NY, 14614). The Public Comment period begins at 6 PM, so please plan to arrive by 5:40 PM if possible so that you have time to park, go through security, and find the Chambers. 

To join us:

- The first step is to RSVP below to let us know you're coming! Whether you're speaking or coming to show to your support in the audience, we want to know that you'll be joining us! 

- We highly encourage you to sign up to speak: hearing constituents share their RG&E stories and directly call on them to fund a study for a public utility is most effective in moving City Council to take action. To sign up to speak, you must either call 585-428-7538 or 585-428-7421, or email [email protected] as soon as possible. Please include your first and last name, mailing address, phone number, and the topic of your comments: urging City Council to commission and fund an implementation study for a public utility. If you sign up to speak, please email Mohini Sharma (mohini@metrojustice) and Michelle Wenderlich ([email protected]) to let us know! 

You will have a strict 2 minutes to speak, and people will speak in the order in which they signed up. Please plan to end your remarks with a call to City Council to allocate up to $500 thousand for an implementation study for a public takeover of RG&E in the City or Monroe County area, and to work with Metro Justice and Monroe County to commission the study. To prepare your remarks, please consult this updated guideline with new key talking points and the call to action.  

Let's make sure our Rochester City Council takes responsiblity and sides with us, the ratepayers, instead of protecting RG&E!