New York is facing a ravaging, systemic affordability crisis that is quietly hollowing out the middle class. From the working-class blocks of Queens and the Bronx to families in Buffalo and Rochester, everyday New Yorkers open their monthly energy bills with a deep, familiar sense of dread. Under our current regulatory framework, investor-owned utility corporations operate as government-sanctioned monopolies. They extract guaranteed, rising profits from captive consumers while state regulators at the Public Service Commission (PSC) rubber-stamp double-digit rate hikes. To restore trust in public governance, New York needs active, unyielding leaders who will aggressively shield ratepayers from corporate exploitation and systemic economic neglect.
The New York State Comptroller is the most powerful office you’ve never heard of. Controlling a nearly $300 billion pension fund—the Common Retirement Fund—and holding unilateral constitutional authority to audit public spending and state agencies, the Comptroller is structurally designed to serve as New York’s ultimate fiscal watchdog. Yet, while utility monopolies have been guaranteed a lucrative, state-sanctioned 9.5% return on equity off the backs of struggling New Yorkers, the Comptroller’s office hasn’t met the moment.
I will change this on day one. In the history of New York, there has never been a comprehensive, independent forensic audit of the state’s utility sector. We have no idea what these endless, compounding rate hikes are actually paying for—but we do know that the CEO of Consolidated Edison takes home over $20 million a year in total compensation while one in five New York families face utility shutoff notices, forced to choose between heating their homes and buying groceries. I will build a dedicated, permanent institutional framework within the Comptroller’s office to conduct thorough, routine forensic audits of these monopolies. We will account for every single dollar they squeeze from New York households, exposing excessive executive compensation and lobbying expenditures that are passed down to ratepayers.
My audits will also target a rapidly growing threat to our state’s grid stability and wallet: the unchecked, subsidized expansion of massive corporate AI data centers. A single modern AI data center can consume as much electricity as 100,000 homes. These energy-guzzling facilities, built by multi-billion-dollar tech conglomerates, are projected to consume up to 9% of all U.S. electricity by 2030. Under the current administration’s passive oversight, these tech monopolies are poised to hook into New York’s power grid, straining our capacity and triggering massive, expensive grid-expansion projects. If left unchecked, the cost of building this new infrastructure will be dumped directly onto the utility bills of working-class families. We cannot allow New York ratepayers to continue subsidizing the skyrocketing, unchecked energy demands of Big Tech. My office will audit the true cost of these data centers and ensure that corporate giants pay their fair share.
Auditing, however, is only half the battle and only one of the powerful tools of this office. We must also leverage New York’s massive financial power as an institutional investor. The Common Retirement Fund holds billions of dollars in equities in major utility corporations. Rather than voting passively with management, I will use our immense shareholder voting power to file aggressive shareholder resolutions. We will demand that executive bonuses, stock options, and dividend increases at companies like ConEd and National Grid be linked directly to consumer affordability metrics, service reliability, and rate stability. If these monopolies fail to keep costs down for New Yorkers or fail to maintain a resilient grid during extreme weather events, their corporate executives should not receive multi-million-dollar payouts.
A healthy, functioning democracy requires that public institutions materially and measurably improve the lives of everyday citizens. When the state fails to protect its people from predatory costs, faith in government erodes.
By transforming the Comptroller’s office from passive bookkeeping into an aggressive, proactive champion for energy affordability and economic justice, we can demonstrate that New York state government can still deliver real, tangible benefits to working families. We will halt skyrocketing utility costs, bring transparency to monopolies, and finally use the financial power of our state to fight for the people.