“There are many ways to increase the amount of power we can deliver to the Hudson Valley,” New York Senator Chuck Schumer said in a press release this week, quoted in The Daily Freeman. He was talking about possible rate increases for Hudson Valley electricity consumers, but the issue is also tied to the amount of power that can be delivered through the Hudson Valley for New York City consumers. The Public Service Commission is considering proposals to refurbish, replace, and/or add new electric power lines through several towns in the WGXC listening area to New York City. The Public Service Commission holds its next meeting at 10:30 a.m., Thu., March 27, in the 19th Floor Board Room of its offices located at Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, with a live webstream available online. William J. Kemble in The Daily Freeman reports that another public forum on the issue will be held Monday in Kingston. This hearing, at 7 p.m. March 24 in the Ulster County Legislature chamber on the sixth floor of the Ulster County Office Building, 244 Fair St., Kingston, is about a proposed “capacity zone” that would require local utilities to purchase their peak-demand electrical supply from sources closer to home. “Both the new capacity zone and the transmission upgrades are meant to address these (consumer demand) bottlenecks,” Citizens for Local Power co-founder Jennifer Metzger told The Daily Freeman. The forum will open with a discussion of planned transmission line upgrades being considered by the state Public Service Commission. Representatives for electricity provider National Grid, transmission line developer Boundless Energy, and New York Independent System Operator, are expected to attend.