Central Hudson CEO seeks to rebuild trust in Hudson Valley
Central Hudson has deep roots in the Hudson Valley, having served the region for more than 120 years. Our mission has always been to provide energy safely and reliably to help improve the lives of our customers. As we look toward the future, and as the newly appointed CEO of the company, my commitment to you is we will work to ensure effective measures are taken to solve any remaining problems caused by our customer information system launch and improve the overall customer service experience.
In 2021, Central Hudson updated our outdated information system to enable us to meet the challenges of managing a 21st-century energy system. We sought to create a system that would have the capability to handle complex billing scenarios related to important renewable energy projects, such as community distributed generation and net metering. As increasing numbers of customers participate in these new programs, we needed a sophisticated system to produce their bills. Though we intended to enhance and simplify billing for customers while supporting the green energy transition, our system had challenges.
A number of our customers received bills that were delayed, and others’ bills needed to be adjusted months after they were produced. These issues eroded trust with regulatory authorities, elected officials, and most importantly, with you, our customers. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and I apologize for those we let down.
We have moved to correct these issues, though we know for those who have experienced stress or confusion it has not been quick enough.
With respect to billing adjustments, when we become aware of impacted customers, we act expeditiously to make customers whole by issuing adjusted bills and, where appropriate, processing reimbursements and credits. We have spent tens of millions of dollars of our own funds towards fixing the errors in the information system, and our dedicated team continues to resolve any remaining systemic issues.
We are also investing in additional staff. To date, we have brought on more than 100 additional team members to support this system transition, including a new group dedicated to ensuring the accuracy of outgoing bills. We are in the process of hiring 36 new customer service personnel to better address the needs of our customers, and we are meeting customers where they are by hosting open houses where customers can engage with us in person.
We understand the frustration customers have with receiving estimated bills every other month and we have filed a plan with our regulators to eliminate this process.
Throughout this period, we have made sure that no customer’s service has been terminated and no late fees have been charged.
In addition to the issues previously described, we have all seen the increase in energy costs across the United States. These two factors — challenges with our CIS implementation and high energy costs — have understandably led to confusion and mistrust. But it is important to remember that these are distinct issues. High rates of inflation are causing increased costs for all of us. From 2020 to 2022, electricity supply prices in New York more than doubled.
Central Hudson does not profit from increases in electricity or natural gas supply costs, nor do we generate electricity or produce natural gas; we purchase these commodities from suppliers on behalf of our customers and we do not mark up those costs. When energy prices fall again — and they surely will eventually — households will see 100% of those savings.
I grew up in the City of Poughkeepsie, less than half a mile from our current headquarters. I love the Hudson Valley and understand the process to rebuild trust with the communities we serve will not happen overnight. I also know the caliber of people at Central Hudson, and they will do whatever it takes to make things right with all our stakeholders and do right by our customers.
I will work alongside with the rest of our incredibly hard-working team at Central Hudson, as well as with regulators, elected officials, and other stakeholders to ensure our system is performing to its full capabilities and that our operations are transparent, so your confidence in us can be restored.
Christopher Capone is the CEO of Central Hudson and has been with the company for 22 years in a variety of roles including as the Chief Financial Officer.