POUGHKEEPSIE – If you are a customer of Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation, you will see a higher monthly bill effective July 15. That is when a new rate plan kicks in.
The State Public Service Commission on Thursday approved a new three-year
electric and natural gas rate plan, but it is lower than the utility had
proposed.
The plan includes the first-ever reduction in the fixed charge that is levied regardless of the amount of electricity consumed.
The $24-per-month rate will drop by $3 in the first year and another $1.50 over the next two years.
Jennifer Metzger, director of Citizens for Local Power, a party to the PSC rate proceeding, called the reduction “an important victory for fairness in our electric rates,” as they will be more closely aligned with the amount of power a customer uses. She said, despite their pleasure with the rollback in the fixed electric rate, Citizens for Local Power did not sign onto the proposal.
“We were concerned about any rate increases at all, but especially in the third year,” Metzger said. “Their rate increase was higher than we were willing to accept, but despite that, there were some real improvements in the approved rate plan over the original proposal all around.”
The approved rate plan limits the overall revenue increases in the first year to $13.7 million, or one percent, for electric customers, and $3.2 million, or 1.5 percent, for natural gas customers. Central Hudson originally wanted a $63.4 million revenue increase in electric rates, or 21.2 percent of delivery revenue, and a $22.2 million increase, or 24.3 percent, of delivery revenue in natural gas rates.
