Welcome to Rochester for Energy Democracy (R.E.D.)!

RED is our campaign to takeover Rochester Gas & Electric and turn it into a public, not-for-profit, local, and community-controlled utility. At our biweekly organizing meetings, we discuss aspects of our strategy to win, determine collective action items, and delegate work. This committee is the heart of our campaign, and a great way to get involved to make a difference and meet our community of volunteers leading this fight. 

We meet at the Metro Justice Office from 6-8 PM. Please RSVP below! We welcome folks bringing snacks and drinks to share if you would like to do so. 

For some background on RED: For-profit, investor-owned utilities like RG&E keep raising our rates, only to neglect maintenance of the grid and expand fossil fuel infrastructure. On top of that, oil and gas continue to lobby against a fast and massive transition to renewable energy. As a result, we all pay more than we should in energy bills while the continued use of fossil fuels pushes us towards catastrophic environmental damage. 

In R.E.D., we believe that in order to combat the climate crisis and ensure environmental justice in the long-term, we must fundamentally transform our energy economy. We need to build an energy system that meets the needs of communities instead of meeting the greed of distant investors and CEOs. We also need a shift to energy that is 100% clean and renewable. We believe this is possible if we takeover RG&E with a public, local, and community controlled utility. This will give communities a say in what kind of energy we use, whom we get it from, and how the money we pay is used to benefit our community. Furthermore, everyone could only pay what is necessary to develop and maintain energy infrastructure, taking millions in profits for investors and CEOs out of the picture. We can also make sure that all jobs associated with the utility are local union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages with benefits. 

A community-driven energy system needs the involvement of people in our community to succeed. To join us at our next meeting, please RSVP below!

Directions to our office:

- Our address is 389 Gregory Street, Unit A. 

- We're located in the same building as the Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union. Go the door on the Cayuga St. side of the building, with a key pad on the door handle. Enter, go to the second floor, and turn right to see Unit A.