Rep. Ryan demands utility CEO’s resignation

Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) used a floor speech at the U.S. House of Representatives to demand the resignation of Charles A. Freni, CEO of Central Hudson Gas & Electric.

In an interview with WAMC, Ryan insisted that his decision to vent his frustration with Freni on Capitol Hill was justified.

“It’s been a year of my constituents, Hudson Valley residents getting ripped off and screwed over, I believe, by Central Hudson,” he said. “And it’s at this point, become a fundamental breach of trust between pretty much everybody that I talked to who’s opening an electric bill and has little to no confidence that it’s going to be accurate and fair. We have to figure out how to restore that trust and of course, fix the issues.”

Ryan added that the utility needs “a leader who’s going to take that on who’s going to take accountability for the failures, and then get to the hard work of rebuilding that trust with the community. So, it was a decision I didn’t take lightly, but calling for accountability of a leader of an organization that I think has systemically failed, I believe is what’s called for right now.”

Freni did not publicly comment on Ryan”™s statements.