POUGHKEEPSIE – Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. will begin the next phase of its monthly meter reading implementation plan by transitioning approximately 63,000 customers, monthly in Ulster County, over to a regular monthly meter reading schedule.
Central Hudson sent communication to customers in Denning, Esopus, Hurley, Kingston, Marbletown, Olive, Rochester, Rosendale, Saugerties, Ulster, Wawarsing and Woodstock. Customers in Neversink in Sullivan County were also notified.
Customers do not have to take any action to complete this transition.
“The practice of issuing bills with bi-monthly estimates has become a pain point for many of our customers,” Central Hudson President and CEO Christopher Capone said. “We have heard their concerns and believe monthly meter reads will provide confidence that a customer’s bill aligns with their actual usage on a monthly basis. We feel this is a critical step in restoring trust in Central Hudson.”
The state Public Service Commission has been highly critical of Central Hudson over the estimated billing as well massive billing errors that saw customers seeing significantly higher charges than usual.
Converting the towns located in Central Hudson’s Kingston Operating District to a monthly meter reading schedule is the third phase of the utility’s measured implementation plan, and largest segment of customers transitioned over to date. Once complete approximately one-third of Central Hudson’s customers will be on monthly meter reading schedules.
In the spring of 2024, Central Hudson expects to move municipalities in the Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and Fishkill operating districts over to monthly meter reading schedules. Municipalities in the Catskill operating district will be converted in the summer of 2024 to complete the implementation.
There is a map to find a map of municipalities within each Central Hudson operating district.
The utility said transitioning to monthly meter reading schedules will not entirely eliminate the need for estimated bills. Certain circumstances including severe weather that causes widespread outages, or instances where a representative cannot access a meter to obtain a reading can still result in an estimated bill.
To learn more about Central Hudson’s monthly meter reading plan, CLICK HERE.
