Three elected officials are calling for actions from Central Hudson to protect consumers who have been egregiously impacted by the failed implementation of their billing system
KINGSTON, N.Y. - Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, New York State Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Kevin Cahill announced today that they sent a joint letter to Central Hudson calling for immediate actions on behalf of their constituents who have been egregiously impacted by the company’s billing practices. The remedies proposed by County Executive Ryan, Senator Hinchey and Assemblymember Cahill were coordinated with the Public Utility Law Project (PULP) and based on conversations with constituents at each of their offices and public testimony during the May 3rd, 2022, public hearing co-hosted by the three elected officials at Kingston High School, where more than 45 people spoke about estimated bills that did not mirror historic use, bank accounts being emptied from autopay and small businesses getting tens of thousands of dollars in bills when they normally would get one or two thousand dollar bills.
“This has been a fundamental failure by Central Hudson, and yet we – their customers – are paying the price; that is completely unacceptable,” Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said. “I’m calling on Central Hudson to take meaningful action that will restore the fundamental trust that they have broken with Ulster County residents by adopting these remedies and being accountable for their mistakes. I want to thank PULP, Senator Hinchey and Assemblymember Cahill for their coordination on this call for immediate restitution for our impacted residents.”
“Central Hudson has failed our community members in a way that is truly unfathomable, forcing families to make heartbreaking choices between paying their overinflated, often inaccurate utility bills and putting food on the table, or paying their rent or mortgage. It has to stop, which is why I’ve joined forces with PULP and my colleagues in government to demand that Central Hudson institute a series of restorative measures so that every person impacted by the company’s erroneous billing system gets the resolution they deserve,” Senator Michelle Hinchey said. “We need our public utilities to operate with full transparency and trust, and we won’t stop fighting until Central Hudson is held accountable and fully remediates the financial damage they’ve caused.”
"Our offices have been open and communicative with Fortis/Central Hudson since these issues started appearing last summer. The company has been given ample time to address these longstanding problems, rectify billing disputes and provide accurate information to customers. Their failure to do so has eroded public trust. While we await the completion of the Public Service Commission investigations, we are calling on Central Hudson to take these common sense measures to start to make amends with their ratepayers and ensure that these mistakes do not further harm the community," Assemblymember Kevin A. Cahill (D-Ulster, Dutchess) said.
"It is shocking that Central Hudson, a major public utility, has found itself incapable of issuing accurate, defensible and understandable bills to its customers. The Company's list of failures –including, but not limited to, its negligence to protect customers against the ‘bill surge’ and this unbelievable failure to install a working billing system – have deeply harmed its customers and eroded the public’s trust," said Richard Berkley, Executive Director of the Public Utility Law Project (PULP). “PULP joins County Executive Ryan, Senator Hinchey, and Assemblymember Cahill in seeking behavioral and financial remedies and in urging a speedy completion of the three major investigations so that these harms can begin to be undone without undue delay and Central Hudson’s customers can finally receive the accountable, capable and transparent utility service that they are entitled to under the law.”
The three elected officials are calling for the following remedies from Central Hudson:
- Reconnect any customer whose service was terminated from August 2021 to the present and halt all new termination efforts through May 1st, 2023;
- Reverse any and all late fees, interest accruals and negative credit reports from August 2021 to the present;
- Offer a minimum Deferred Payment Agreement (DPA) at $0 down and $10/month to any residential or small business customers in arrears whose bills can be determined to be legitimate and subsequently verified and approved by the Department;
- Retroactively apply charges based on the specific month in question when issuing corrected invoices for previous billing periods and provide credits in situations where such practice has not been carried out;
- Zero out balances for any customers in arrears who do not receive corrected, accurate and verified bills by June 30, 2022; and
- Increase transparency and better communicate the market prices, calculations and hedging activities that determine the rates consumers pay.
The Department of Public Service (DPS) is currently investigating Central Hudson’s customer information system implementation and the resulting billing errors. The investigation was triggered by Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, who used his legal authority as the chief executive officer under Public Service Law §71. His March 3rd letter cited Ulster County residents’ concerns ranging from not receiving bills for months, to extremely over-estimated bills, to large automatic withdrawals from customers’ accounts without notice. Following the audit, the DPS will come up with corrective recommendations and remedies for the Public Service Commission to vote on at a future meeting.
At the State level, Senator Hinchey has called on the Public Service Commission to investigate both Central Hudson’s estimated billing procedure and the utility’s skyrocketing bill hikes and authored legislation (S7579A) to prohibit every utility company in New York from using an estimated billing system in most circumstances, which is currently under review in the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee.
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