Central Hudson Bill Surge Follows Con Edison’s

If you read our previous post about the massive bill increases in Con Edison’s territory (NYC and Westchester), you know that PULP has pointed out that bill surges are happening all over the State of New York, its just that (1) Con Ed’s bills came out first, (2) there is much more media in NYC and thus more of an echo chamber, and (3) if the problem happens only in one place it is an oddity, but if it happens everywhere, there is something wrong in the system, and the regulator should be investigating.

Well, Central Hudson Gas & Electric was next to experience large volumes of customer and elected official complaints over an increase projected of approximately 40% according to the company. Like Con Edison, Central Hudson had also recently completed a rate proceeding and had been given approval to raise rates charged to customers.

As of now, the Department of Public Service has focused on examining the company’s response to the ice storm and outages that plagued Ulster County only days before the bill surge began in NYC. Stay tuned for more, and here are some graphics for consumers and elected officials suggesting some next steps.