ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Rochester Gas & Electric's proposed rate hikes will be the focus of a town hall meeting in Rochester Thursday night. 

Advocates are calling for Rochester City Council to introduce a referendum that would allow a vote to place for a public takeover of RG&E. If that vote passed, it would force Avangrid, the parent company of RG&E, to sell to the public.

Avangird recently proposed a rate hike that would increase rates for customers anywhere from 13 – 22%.

Those against the rate hikes say the services provided by the company do not warrant the hike, but Avangrid says the increase would help hire more customer service employees and upgrade infrastructure.

Rochester City Council's vice president and grassroots organization Metro Justice are hosting the meeting. They want the takeover so it can be run like community-owned power companies in Fairport, Spencerport and Churchville.

“RG&E hasn’t been serving residents for a very long time,” Mohini Sharma, Metro Justice organizing director, said, “and it’s time for a chance, and that change looks like a public takeover of RG&E and replacing it with a local public utility company that is democratic, affordable and reinvests rate payer dollars back into the community so that our community can thrive and get what it needs.”

RG&E's parent company, Avangrid, says the rate hike will go toward upgrading infrastructure and more customer service employees.

The town hall is scheduled to run from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the Thomas Ryan R-Center on Webster Avenue.

Metro Justice says a number of town halls will be held in the future to gain public support for a takeover.

In a statement, RG&E says it’s extremely concerned the proposal could have the consequence of higher rates, accumulating debt and reduced reliability.

It went onto say that it’s facing pandemic-related staffing issues and is working on recruiting new team members.