Kingston – Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger and several local government officials have written to the Public Service Commission calling on it to take action with the review and penalty measures against Central Hudson before issuing an order on the current rate case.
While the commission has taken important steps following DPS’s December 2022 investigation report of the Fortis/Central Hudson billing fiasco, including ending the utility’s use of estimated billing and installing an independent monitor to verify the correction of billing errors, Fortis/Central Hudson has yet to be held to account for management’s reckless actions,” Metzger said. “A prudent review and civil penalty assessment should be undertaken now, before the PSC approves a new rate plan, to justly compensate customers and give us the confidence that management failures of this magnitude will no be tolerated and will not be repeated in the future.”
Congressman Pat Ryan finds it “outrageous that Central Hudson is seeking to raise rates without facing real consequences for its failures.”
“During this investigation and in the months of scrutiny leading up to it, Central Hudson has not demonstrated the ability to provide satisfactory customer service that is needed to alleviate the anxiety and street of our constituents,” said State Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha.
Ulster County Legislature Chairman Peter Criswell said as elected officials, “it is our duty to hold companies accountable for their actions, especially when those actions directly impact the well-being of our constituents.”
Joe Jenkins, utility director of community relations, said for over a year, Central Hudson “has fully cooperated with the Department of Public Service as it conducted its investigation into the implementation of our billing system. During that time, we have answered hundreds of inquiries from DPS and provided the information requested.”
He said Central Hudson also “entered into an interim agreement that installed a state-appointed, third-party monitor who analyzed the accuracy of our billing as well as our plan to transition our customers to monthly meter reading schedules. While that report has not been released, we expect it to reflect the significant progress our dedicated team has made in addressing challenges associated with the billing system.”
Jenkins said at this time the billing system is performing “at levels similar or better than our previous system in several key metrics and any customer who was incorrectly charged has been made whole either through refunds or bill credits.”
He said they “await the conclusion of the investigation so that we can continue the hard work of rebuilding trust with our customers and our elected leaders.”
