Electric, gas users will see higher bills
Central Hudson’s charges for delivering electric and gas to customers in Beacon, Philipstown and other areas of its territory will rise over the next three years under a plan approved on Thursday (Aug. 14) by the state Public Service Commission.
The monthly costs for a typical customer using 710 kilowatt-hours of electricity will rise by $6.67 during the first year, which covers July 1 of this year to June 30, 2026. Over the subsequent two years, customers will pay an additional $6.84 and $6.52 per month, respectively.
Gas bills will also increase — by $7.89 per month in the first year for an average residential customer using 64 centum cubic feet, and then by $11.27 and $12.21 for the final two years of the agreement.
The PSC largely approved a three-year proposal forged between Central Hudson, the Department of Public Service and other parties that included about a dozen entities, including the New York Power Authority, Walmart and Dutchess County.
The plan will produce $96 million in electricity and $48 million in gas revenues, which Central Hudson says it will spend on infrastructure; labor costs and incentive compensation; energy-efficiency and heat-pump programs; and a 9.5 percent return on equity for its shareholders.
“I believe the proposal satisfies a balance of the various interests involved, both protecting consumers and ensuring the long-term viability of the utility,” said Rory Christian, who chairs the PSC.
Under the proposal, Central Hudson also agreed to provide customer bills in Spanish, continue outreach to households unaware they are eligible for energy assistance and award up to $200,000 in grants for workforce training in green energy fields.
But it also drew criticism from advocacy groups and elected officials, who cited a series of rate increases approved by the PSC for Central Hudson’s 315,000 electric customers and 90,000 gas accounts. The most recent, approved in July 2024, added $12.65 per month to the average monthly electric bill and $12.25 to gas.
A month after that approval, Central Hudson submitted a request for a one-year increase to electric and gas delivery rates of $9 a month. The three-year agreement approved on Thursday replaces that request.
Communities for Local Power, a Kingston-based advocate for renewable energy, said the size of the new rate hikes “is outrageous and is clearly unaffordable and unsustainable.”
The Public Utility Law Project, an advocate for utility customers, took a neutral position — supporting measures that it said will improve customer service during extreme weather and expand language access but also acknowledging the increases will “place additional strain on household budgets.”
