Church without power for nearly a year in dispute with RG&E

At Central Church of Christ, Minister Clifford Florence Sr. delivers his sermons in the dark. 

Since 2019, the church has been in a dispute with its electricity provider, Rochester Gas and Electric, stemming from $85,000 in overdue billing and late fees that the company maintains is owed by the church.

Last August, RG&E finally shut off the church’s power, after years of back and forth between the two parties. 

Though Florence admits that the church was behind on payments, he argues that the church is being overcharged by RG&E in late fees on top of the money already owed by the church.

Florence says regular payments made by the church to RG&E to pay down its electric bill instead went to paying late fees. As a result, late fees continued to pile up because payments were not being made on the principal cost of electricity.

Other discrepancies in billing, such as charges for power to city-owned streetlights adjacent to the church, served to further muddy the waters, he says. 

“We have taken extensive steps to help Central Church of Christ and spent time providing them detailed billing and payment records going back seven years to prove how they accumulated such a high balance,” says Shelby Cohen, RG&E spokesperson.

RG&E says it had attempted to work with Florence and the other leadership at Central Church of Christ, to no avail. 

According to Florence, RG&E offered a final bill of $48,000 to settle the dispute. The church says it rejected the offer because it failed to take into account the discrepancies in billing and late fees.

Central Church of Christ is located at 101 S. Plymouth Ave., in a historic building that housed the First Presbyterian Church until 1976, when the late Minister Franklin Florence, Clifford’s father, moved his congregation into the building. 

The Central Church of Christ serves a predominantly African-American congregation, and Clifford Florence’s civil rights activities make the church an important site for Rochester’s Black community. 

Florence says the church’s history as one of the oldest Black congregations in Rochester cannot be ignored in its dispute with RG&E. 

“How is it that a Black church gets cut off for almost a year, and we have profit and non-for-profit organizations that have more money accessible to them, but they’re not being cut off, and they’re not being forced to pay?” he says. “I do believe if I had a predominantly white membership as a Black pastor, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

Florence also alleges that RG&E waited until after his father’s death to cut the church’s electricity to avoid public fallout stemming from his father’s role as a respected civil rights leader. 

The Central Church of Christ has had to adapt to the loss of power over the past year.

“We’ve had to be very creative in being able to heat the building during the brutal winters,” says Florence. “We’re trying to be creative with our light during services.”

The church has received notices from the city of Rochester, he adds.

“We received stickers on the church about our ability not to be able to carry on services because we didn’t have RG&E, but they don’t make those decisions for us,” Florence says. “We continued in spite of that because, you know, the work of the Lord is more important than the voices of women and men.” 

In addition to logistical challenges, the church has also faced financial difficulties with operating in the dark.

“My livelihood was affected by this decision, as well as the livelihood of the church. People’s membership was shaken by the bold move (by RG&E),” Florence says. “And, of course, that affected income and it stagnated some of the ministries.” 

Since the start of its dispute with RG&E, the Central Church of Christ claims that it sought help from elected officials, including its state Assembly representative, Demond Meeks, and state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, with little success.

In recent years, RG&E has faced criticism from local activists and others, who claim that the company engages in deceptive practices, including unfair rate hikes, unjustified fees, and ineffective customer service. RG&E maintains that it has taken steps to improve customer service and remains committed to the Rochester area.

David Wazana, a student at Ithaca College, is a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.

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