Central Hudson Adds Surcharge Onto Customer Bills To Partly Cover Arrears Reduction Program

Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation will add a surcharge to the “Miscellaneous component” of each customer’s bill beginning August 1, 2022 in order to “recover costs of the Electric & Gas Bill Relief Program targeted to assist low income families who experienced hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to their ad published in the Poughkeepsie Journal, as first Instagrammed by BLMHudsonValley. Customers with low income who are enrolled in EAP and are in arrears will see their unpaid bill changed by August 1, 2022, according to a press release by Governor Kathy Hochul.

Central Hudson confirmed to A Little Beacon Blog that the surcharge will be collected for one year, and is in the amount of one-half of one percent on the “total bill” for each customer. Central Hudson will receive approximately $2.85 million in New York State funding recently announced by Governor Kathy Hochul, and approximately $3 million from the customer surcharge.

Immediate reaction from people in the Instagram post was confusion at what the rate of the surcharge would be. People expressed feeling heavy with additional charges being added after the snafu with Central Hudson’s rollout of the new billing system earlier this year, and the recent removal of the fixed rate for supply of electricity due to the breaking of the CCA contract made by a supplier who contracted with several municipalities including Beacon. The PSC recently opened an investigation in March 2022 into Central Hudson at the request of Ulster County’s County Executive Pat Ryan for Central Hudson’s flawed billing system rollout that impacted customers including Dutchess County residents.

Central Hudson confirmed to A Little Beacon Blog that the ad ran in Poughkeepsie Journal, Kingston Daily Freeman, Catskill Daily Mail, and Times Herald Record on July 6, 13, 20 and 27. It ran in the Putnam County Courier July 6, 13, 20 and 27. Central Hudson noted that publishing a notice of the addition of the surcharge is a regulatory requirement by the Public Service Commission (PSC), but publishing when it falls off in a year is not required.

According to Governor Hochul’s 6/16/2022 announcement: “Under the bill credit program, the PSC is leveraging the $250 million from the FY 2023 Enacted State Budget to require utilities to provide a one-time credit to customers enrolled in the Energy Affordability Program (EAP) that will eliminate unpaid utility bills that have accrued through May 1, 2022. The program also authorizes the same relief for any eligible low-income customers that enroll in EAP by December 31, 2022.”

Joseph Jenkins, Associate Director of Media Relations stated: “The measure received support from consumer advocacy groups like AARP and the Public Utility Law Project.” When asked if that support included the customer surcharge, Joseph responded: “The surcharge is how all utilities across the state are funding the program and was part of the program that the PSC approved back in June, so it’s difficult to separate the two. The how this program would be funded was one of the items that the working group that created it had to come to an agreement on.”

According to Governor Hochul’s press release, this one-time, low-income utility bill credit will be applied to affected customers' bills requires no action by existing low-income customers enrolled in the EAP to receive the benefit.