ALBANY, NY (607NewsNow) – NYSEG’s rate case with the NYS Public Service Commission continues.

On February 20, Congressman Josh Riley cross-examined some of the utility company’s executives in Albany, where they testified under oath that they sent a $450 million dividend to their foreign parent company, Iberdrola, on February 28, 2025.

NYSEG, a frequent target of Riley’s, would then file its most recent rate case demand just four months later in June.

According to Riley, they made the payment knowing they would seek to increase rates.

“NYSEG ripped hundreds of millions out of our community to line the pockets of their foreign parent company in Spain, and they admitted under oath yesterday that they knew all along they were going to jack up rates and make Upstate New Yorkers pay for it,” stated Riley. “It’s robbery, plain and simple.”

With costly utility bills the most frequent issue Riley hears about from constituents, he has made efforts to fight costly increases during his time in office, including an investigation into utility monopolies.

Riley has introduced the Keep the Lights Local Act, which bans foreign companies from owning local utility companies, and the No Bonuses for Utility Executive Act, which bans bonuses when utilities raise rates faster than inflation, caps bonuses in years when rates stay stable, and includes oversight and enforcement penalties for violations.

Last month, he launched the Congressional Lowering Utility Bills Caucus, which is made up of lawmakers from 10 states dedicated to finding oversight strategies and tools to hold utility companies accountable for rate hikes.

In 2024, Iberdrola reported an approximate net profit of $5.85 million, a 17% increase over 2023. Riley’s office says Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan recently told shareholders that its American-based utility subsidiaries serve as an “unprecedented investment opportunity” that drives growth and improves profitability.

A final determination by the NYS Public Service Commission is expected later in 2026.

Watch Congressman Riley’s full statement here.

In response, a NYSEG spokesperson has issued the following statement to 607NewsNow.

During last week’s hearing, we shared the facts on NYSEG’s Powering New York plan with the Congressman, as we have attempted to do several times. Unfortunately, the Congressman continued to restate his false accusations and lies to judges about our profits going overseas. To be clear, profits are not sent overseas. In fact, from 2015 through 2024, Avangrid, our parent company, provided more than $990M back to NYSEG to invest in our system and rebuild our grid. This amount was more than NYSEG took in from operations and was used to invest in the system. In other words, we have been investing more dollars than we take in.

These investments are critical to reducing outages, increasing capacity, and attracting new businesses and jobs throughout the state and in his district. Congressman Riley has once again chosen repeated lies over facts in order in order to grab a quick headline and social media hits. We urge the Congressman to use his position as an elected official to address real drivers of high bills, including skyrocketing natural gas supply prices that have gone up 100% over five years without oversight, and which we do not profit from, and to work with state-level officials to revisit political mandates that add significantly to energy bills. Upstate New Yorkers deserve real solutions.