Utility asks to reduce one rate, hike others

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. » Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. has proposed reducing the fixed monthly rate it charges to customers for electricity, cheering watchdog groups that have complained the current rate is the highest in New York.

The utility’s three-year proposal — agreed to by Central Hudson and watchdog groups and filed with the state Public Service Commission on Wednesday — calls for reducing the current $24 fixed rate by $3 the first year, $1 the second year and 50 cents the third year.

Electricity use rates, though, would increase — by 1 percent the first year, 2.8 percent the second year and 4 percent the third year. And natural gas use rates would increase 1.5 percent the first year, 3.6 percent the second year and 4.4 percent the third year.

The utility initially proposed increasing the electricity fixed rate by $1, to $25 per month. One of the watchdog groups, Citizens for Local Power, responded that the rate should be lowered from $24 to $10.

The fixed rate is the amount a utility charges customers to cover its cost of doing business and is separate from the usage rates that customers pay.

Central Hudson’s initial proposals for usage rate hikes were a cumulative 13.5 percent for electricity and 18.5 percent for gas.

State Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, former chairman of the Assembly Standing Committee on Energy, said he was pleased Central Hudson backed off its initial proposals but was “disappointed that the rate hike was not stopped all together.”

The Public Service Commission is accepting comments on Central Hudson’s

proposal through May 2. Those writing comments should refer to the electricity proposal with case number 17-E-0459 and the natural has proposal with case number 17-G-0460. Comments can be submitted online at www.dps.ny.gov, emailed to secretary@dps. ny.gov or mailed to Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, N.Y. 12223-1350.

Central Hudson wrote to the commission that the proposal “represents a balanced, collaborative agreement among the signatories (the utility and watchdog groups) that provides the company with an opportunity to invest in new electric and gas equipment, update aging infrastructure and deploy new information and electric grid technology to modernize the company’s

systems so it can continue to deliver electricity and natural gas to its customers in a reliable and safe manner at just and reasonable rates.”

Also, Central Hudson wrote, the proposal “seeks to bolster the existing treetrimming and vegetationmanagement program to further reduce electric service interruptions caused by trees, the primary cause of power outages .... ”

Jen Metzger, director of the group Citizens for Local Power, called the Central Hudson proposal “an important victory for fairness in our electricity rates because bills will be more closely tied to how much power customers actually use.” The group, however, said the proposed 4.4 percent hike in natural gas use rates for the third year of the plan is too high.

Metzger also is a Rosendale Town Board member

and a candidate for state Senate in New York’s 42nd District.

The group Earthjustice said it, too, was pleased by Central Hudson’s proposed lower fixed rate for electricity.

“The surcharge would have greatly lessened the ability for Central Hudson customers to reduce their electric bills through energy-saving measures,” the groups said in a written statement. “Energy efficiency is the quickest and easiest way to reduce pollution that causes climate change, so today’s win, preserving energy efficiency incentives, has ramifications well beyond the Hudson Valley.”

Central Hudson, based in Poughkeepsie, serves customers is some or all of eight counties in the Hudson Valley.