The Newburgh News, LLC is calling for the immediate resignation of the top officials of embattled utility giant, Central Hudson Gas & Electric.
The New York State Public Services Commission has issued a scathing report on Central Hudson’s billing practices (story here). An additional Senate investigation is also underway. Central Hudson could potentially face steep fines and be forced to pay back customers for excessive charges, State Senator James Skoufis explained.
Central Hudson has had its customers under a barrel for the last year, forcing many of them to pay ridiculous bills sometimes in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. Soon, the tables may be turned and the public may have Central Hudson under a barrel. Kudos to our elected and appointed government officials for taking action.
The problems began over one year ago when Central Hudson revamped their billing system. Countless complaints have poured in since its implementation. Frustrated customers claimed they got nowhere with customer service, so they began flooding Central Hudson’s social media pages, the Better Business Bureau, and government officials with complaints.
Central Hudson has known about these problems since they began. Top executives have had well over one year to fix the problems, yet the agony still goes on. Instead, Central Hudson has continued pointing fingers at everyone else.
During the summer, they blamed our elected officials of speaking out on behalf of their constituents in attempts to win an election. Central Hudson launched an television campaign arrogantly telling customers they should sign up for payment plans to pay their steep fees, rather than admitting there was a problem. They held a livestream online where they dodged questions from elected officials. More recently, they blamed the Daily Freeman for reporting on customers’ complaints, claiming the complaints are minimal and most customers are happy. They even blamed public advocates for publishing links to Central Hudson’s own written notice to customers, which was published on Central Hudson’s webpage.
Directly contradicting themselves, Central Hudson has also admitted that billing errors have existed. They claimed they have corrected those mistakes.
Enough is enough! If Central Hudson put as much energy into fixing their problems as they are to making excuses, the problems would already be resolved.
The Newburgh News, LLC urges customers to refrain from using automated billing through Central Hudson. This will allow them to continue charging ridiculous fees to credit cards or bank accounts. Customers should first review their bills and manually make payments if the bills are appropriate. If the bills seem excessive, customers are urged to contact any elected official of their choice to seek further instructions.
Central Hudson has had more than ample time to rectify their suspicious billing problems. The excessive bills, the meter readers who have mysteriously gone missing, the “estimated” bills of what Central Hudson feels you might owe them, and all of these other games must stop immediately. They are driving their customers into the poor houses.
The public outcry has been abundant and intense. If this many customers are frustrated and begging for help, something is definitely wrong.
The community has not had these kind of problems in the past. This is a fairly new problem that has occurred over the last year. Prior to this, customers did not have this many complaints. Therefore, the following questions remain: Why is it different now and why won’t Central Hudson bring things back to the way they were previously?
The public has spoken and Central Hudson must comply immediately.
Since Central Hudson leaders continue fighting the community on this matter rather than satisfying their paying customers, we are calling for their resignations. Each and every one of them.
Those who feel they have been victimized by Central Hudson are urged to file a complaint with the Public Services Commission here:
https://documents.dps.ny.gov/public/Comments/PublicComments.aspx?MatterCaseNo=22-00666
