Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan says the New York State Public Service Commission has opened an investigation into Central Hudson’s customer information system and billing practices.
It comes after the Democrat called for such an inquiry. Ryan says thousands of customers have expressed concerns ranging from not receiving bills for months, to extremely over-estimated bills, to large automatic withdrawals from customers’ accounts without notice. The utility has been under scrutiny from state and local officials for months. State Assemblyman Kevin Cahill says the company is making excuses for the delays.
In a statement to WAMC, Central Hudson said it is working to resolve challenges that have occurred as it replaces its nearly 40-year-old customer service system.
“It is our understanding this is an investigation being conducted by the staff of the PSC in parallel to the management audit, which is held every five years,” said Joe Jenkins, Central Hudson’s Associate Director of Media Relations. “We look forward to working with the Public Service Commission and the independent consulting company as they conduct their management audit and investigation. Central Hudson is in the process of implementing a new customer service platform to replace a nearly 40-year-old legacy system in order to meet the complex and changing needs of our industry and customer expectations. As we transition to this new system, we have encountered challenges that we are actively working on to resolve. We expect to have the vast majority of impacted customers with corrected bills in hand and back onto their regular billing cycle by late April. The recent increases in the prices for energy and other goods have created a financial burden for all New Yorkers. Central Hudson offers payment options and financial assistance for customers, and hedges energy purchases to help dampen market-price volatility. We are committed to doing all we can to assist our customers and we look forward to working with state regulators to address the increase the market prices for energy.”
