Rep. Josh Riley introduced new legislation last Thursday that would ban foreign enterprises from owning American utility companies.

The bill, titled the “Keep the Lights Local Act,” would expand federal laws to prohibit foreign businesses and governments from owning public electric companies in the United States, eliminating the portion of bills that goes toward foreign corporate profits and reducing costs. In a press release, Riley named several foreign-owned utility monopolies in upstate New York, including New York State Electric and Gas, Central Hudson and National Grid.

“The foreign corporations who own our utility companies are raking in record profits while Upstate New Yorkers are getting crushed by utility bills,” Riley said in the press release. “NYSEG and Central Hudson alone have shipped hundreds of millions overseas, and then they come back to demand we pay even more.”

“That ends now,” he continued. “The Keep the Lights Local Act bans foreign corporations from owning our utility companies because Upstate New Yorkers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize foreign corporate profits. We’re taking our power back, literally.”

NYSEG is a utility company responsible for providing electricity and gas for over 1.9 million customers in upstate New York. The company is owned by Avangrid, an energy services and delivery enterprise that is a subsidiary of Iberdrola, a Spanish electric utility corporation based in Bilbao, Spain.

The legislation was introduced several months after Riley launched an investigation into utility companies’ billing practices after constituents complained about rising electricity costs. In April, he issued a formal request to NYSEG demanding access to customer billing and other data related to the price hikes.

According to Riley, NYSEG sent $450 million to Iberdrola earlier this year while the company simultaneously proposed rate increases in Upstate New York. NYSEG announced an average monthly bill increase of $11.34 for electricity customers and an average monthly bill increase of $4.10 for natural gas customers, effective in May 2025.

“As storms become stronger, communities grow, and our customers use the grid in new ways, 20th century infrastructure is being strained by 21st-century challenges,” NYSEG wrote to Pipe Dream in a statement. “As we have shared with the Congressman, the Iberdrola Group has backed NYSEG and RG&E with more than $1 billion in financing over the last decade, provided access to global supply chains that would otherwise be out of reach, and used bulk purchasing power to help get lower prices for supplies and equipment. Those facts speak for themselves, even if the Congressman chooses to ignore them.”

These price hikes have impacted Binghamton residents and NYSEG customers. In August, State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04 told Pipe Dream that many Binghamton residents were struggling with the increased cost of living and various challenges involving NYSEG’s billing practices.

“My first bill came for only the first three weeks, not a full month, and was higher than we expected,” Ella Sperry, a NYSEG customer and junior majoring in economics, wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream.

Riley also cited a need to secure the power grid from foreign threats in support of his new bill, claiming that state-sponsored hackers from Russia, China and Iran pose a threat to U.S. infrastructure and could potentially cause blackouts, sabotage power stations and compromise supply chains.

According to the press release, a New York State Public Service Commission audit found 128 deficiencies at NYSEG and Rochester Gas & Electric, both owned by Avangrid. The audit found that despite increased costs, the companies’ “cyber security program is not maturing as it should.”

Riley claims that the bill will hold power companies accountable to local communities, which will strengthen the power grid, lower costs and promote national security. NYSEG, on the other hand, opposes the bill and claims that Riley has mischaracterized the company and its employees.

“At a time when energy prices are rising across the nation, we are surprised the Congressman would propose such a radical approach that would reduce competition and raise costs on New Yorkers,” NYSEG wrote. “We need more energy investments, not less. The Congressman has the opportunity to affect real change at the federal level but is forsaking it for cheap shots that only serve to move us backwards.”