Last month a temporary rate hike went into effect for NYSEG and RG&E customers across Upstate New York, as the state’s Public Service Commission weighs a rate case that would see customer bills rise significantly more. Every time utility rates make it into a headline, a seemingly obvious question crops up quickly: Why don’t local communities just create their own electric utility?

It’s a fair question. After all, New York already has municipal electric systems. Communities have operated publicly owned utilities for decades and often point to lower rates and greater local control as proof that public power is better.

But there’s a reason towns and villages across Upstate New York aren’t lining up to buy out NYSEG or RG&E.

The reality is that creating a municipal utility isn’t as simple as taking over billing and dispatching a few line crews after a storm. A community would need to acquire substations, poles, transformers, distribution lines, easements, meters and countless other assets. It would then need to build an organization capable of operating and maintaining that system every day. That means engineers, dispatchers, customer service representatives, cybersecurity specialists in the modern era, billing staff, emergency response personnel and everyone else required to run a modern utility.

The cost is staggering.

Even relatively small service territories could require tens of millions of dollars in acquisition costs. Larger communities could face hundreds of millions. That’s before factoring in........

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