U.S. Congressman Pat Ryan is planning to meet with the new CEO of Central Hudson and is seeking feedback from the community about key concerns to bring to the table.
Over 30,000 victims of Central Hudson had their autopay incorrectly billed and coughed up an extra $16 million to the disgraced utility monopoly, according to a New York State Department of Public Service report released in December. An additional 8,000 customers were overcharged while another $5,000 customers did not receive bills at all, according to the data. This was all a result of Central Hudson’s billing system being riddled with hundreds of programming errors, the report noted.
Ryan stated he has received more than 11,000 formal complaints about embattled Central Hudson since his call for an investigation into their “disastrous billing practices” almost one year ago.
On December 16, 2022, The Newburgh News demanded the resignation of Central Hudson President and CEO Charles Freni (editorial here). On February 1, 2023, Ryan joined in and demanded Freni’s resignation while standing on the Congress floor (story here).
Freni remained defiant and refused to resign. On February 13, 2023, Central Hudson’s Board of Directors fired Freni as the President and CEO (story here). He was replaced by Christopher M. Capone.
“I’m getting ready to meet with the new CEO, and I need your help,” Ryan stated. “I want to make sure I’m bringing all of your concerns to the table. Your voice deserves to be heard.”
Ryan can be contacted via his official website at https://patryan.house.gov/address_authentication?form=/contact/email-me.
“My plan is to gather up all the responses, and bring it along to our meeting,” Ryan explained. “There’s no more time for excuses. Central Hudson’s leadership must take urgent action to fix their broken systems and repay customers who were wronged. And I’ll keep fighting until that happens.”
