Utility will expand monthly meter readings
Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. has significantly expanded its plan for oncea-month meter readings in Ulster County, the utility said.
Joseph Jenkins, a Central Hudson spokesman, said that as part of a pilot program, 63,000 customers in the Kingston Operating District are being notified of the pending move to monthly meter readings from the estimated bi-monthly billing policy.
Previously, 500 customers in Kingston and Marlboro were part of the pilot program started in December that has included 10,000 customers in Central Hudson’s entire territory, Jenkins said.
Customers who are receiving the newest monthly meter-reading notices are in Kingston, Woodstock, Denning, Olive, Hurley, the town of Ulster, Neversink (Sullivan County), Wawarsing, Rochester, Marbletown, Rosendale and Esopus.
“The communication residents are receiving is announcing the next phase of our monthly meter reading implementation that will be taking place within our Kingston operating district,” Jenkins said in an email. “We expect to transition the vast majority of customers within these municipalities over to a monthly meter reading schedule over the course of the next two months.”
“We know that estimated bills have been a source of confusion and frustration for our customers and we are pleased to move into this next phase of our monthly meter reading implementation plan,” Jenkins said. “Our transition to monthly meter reads and away from bi-monthly estimates is part of our overall efforts to restore trust within the communities we serve.”
“This, coupled with our recently scheduled customer service events in Kingston and Newburgh, along with our work with a Public Service Commission-appointed, independent, third-party monitor who is verifying the accuracy of our bills, will help restore customers’ confidence in Central Hudson.”
For a couple of years, Central Hudson has faced customer complaints about its billing practices. It has also faced strong criticism from numerous political leaders, including U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, D-Gardiner, who represents the 18th Congressional District.
Ryan and others have demanded that the PSC not agree to any gas and electricity delivery rate increases, something that is the focus of ongoing hearings before administrative judges.
On Friday, Feb. 2, Ryan said that Central Hudson’s move to
monthly meter readings is a step in the right direction.
“For years, I’ve been pushing for increased transparency and accountability from Central Hudson,” Ryan said in a statement. “This is a huge step in the right direction, but we still have more work to do.”
In early December, Central Hudson began phasing in a pilot program aimed at reading the meters of thousands of customers every month.
At that time, Jenkins said 10,000 customers system-wide were expected to be part of the meter-reading initiative. Up until now, the company had conducted bimonthly readings for all of its approximately 309,000 electric customers.
The practice has drawn criticism from them as well as utility watchdogs and political leaders.
Jenkins said if the initial test proves successful, “a phased approach will be used to implement monthly meter readings to all of our customers over several months next year.”
In July, Central Hudson agreed to “pay for an independent monitor to verify system and operational improvements, to correct billing system errors and to accelerate its plans to perform monthly meter reading for its customers,” under an agreement reached with the state Department of Public Service, the agency had announced.
As part of the agreement, Central Hudson planned to be able to read a vast majority of its customers’ meters monthly by December 2024, compared to the utility’s previous goal to reach this milestone by February 2025, the agency announced.
The agency said under the agreement, Central Hudson had planned to start a pilot program for monthly meter readings in late 2023 and into early 2024.
Central Hudson was also the target of a December 15, 2022, scathing report from the investigative arms of the PSC, which strongly criticized Central Hudson’s billing practices and other managerial lapses.
Chief among ratepayer complaints is Central Hudson’s practice of sending out bimonthly estimated bills to individual customers, a policy the company has said will end.
The report in December 2022 from an investigative arm of the commission known as the Office of Investigations blasted the utility for its billing practices. The commission voted to order Central Hudson to answer allegations contained in the report, which the company has done.