Grassroots effort spurred good change to low-income energy policy

In June 2015, the state Public Service Commission created a proposal to modify low-income energy assistance programs — without soliciting input from low-income people.

Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson anchored a committee within the Energy Democracy Alliance (EDA), a statewide energy justice coalition, to organize a grassroots response.

We convened in Albany in August 2015, and low-income members of EDA organizations interrupted a meeting for the proceeding to demand input for their communities. That action won statewide public hearings about the proposal, which allowed us to organize an even stronger grassroots response.

Over the rest of 2015, the EDA turned out dozens of working class people to hearings, including in Poughkeepsie, to demand expanded funding and eligibility for energy assistance programs.

As a result, the Public Service Commission overhauled its proposal, released on May 19. We won incredible changes: Funding was expanded by $69 million, and eligibility was expanded by 550,000 more households. In total, funding will be $248 million and eligibility will include 1.65 million households. A joint, inter-agency task force, designed to further increase enrollment to 2.3 million total households, has also been formed.

If people directly impacted by the proposal hadn’t organized and showed up in large numbers, disrupting the way the proceeding was supposed to work and transforming the process itself, nothing would have changed.

This is an important example of how we win social justice more broadly. People of color, women, working class people, and others who are oppressed by systems of power won’t change things through only playing by the rules designed by those who benefit from the way the world is to keep it that way. When people come together in large numbers and speak out, they can win concrete gains. But, even more importantly, they can start changing the rules themselves.

Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, the EDA, and many others will be monitoring the results of the PSC’s investigation of Central Hudson, and of the task force designed to increase enrollment for energy assistance. We’ll be watching to see whether these processes are fair, thorough, and take into account the perspectives of those directly impacted by the issues, or if further action is needed.

Jonathan Bix is the executive director of Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson. To find more about the organization, go to www.nobodyleavesmidhudson.org.