About Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation.

What does Central Hudson offer to help us manage higher energy bills?

Central Hudson offers several programs to help customers manage their energy bills:

Enroll in Budget Billing
Budget Billing spreads your annual electric and natural gas bills evenly each month, avoiding seasonal fluctuations in energy costs and providing households with predictable energy bills. Payments will be uniform over 11 months based on your actual usage history, and the bill for the 12th month will include an annual plus-or-minus adjustment to reflect the actual usage and price for the year. To enroll, contact our Call Center at (845) 452-2700 or 1-800-527-2714.

Shop for electricity and natural gas supply
Residents and businesses may shop for electricity and natural gas supply from competing marketers as a result of deregulation. Central Hudson will remain your energy delivery company, and we'll help you obtain information to make an informed choice on your energy supply. For more information, visit Energy Choice.

Time of Use billing
Time-of-Use is an optional billing method for residential customers to purchase their electricity based on when the actual use of electricity occurs. Time-of-Use pricing charges customers lower prices for electricity used during periods of low overall electric demand (off-peak hours) and higher prices during periods of higher electric demand (on-peak hours). By shifting the consumption of electricity to periods of lower demand, customers can take advantage of lower-cost energy. For more information on Time-of-Use Billing, click here.

Qualified residents may apply for assistance
There are several programs to help customers with their utility bills, including the Home Energy Assistance Program that provides grants for income-qualified households, and the Powerful Opportunity Program, which combines energy conservation and financial management measures with assistance toward past due balances. Also available is the Good Neighbor Fund, Hospitalization Program, Deferred Payment Arrangements and other special programs. For more information on these assistance programs, click here.

Take steps to use energy efficiently
Everyone can take steps to better manage their energy use by using energy more efficiently. Insulating attics, sealing leaks and drafts, lowering the water heater thermostat, washing clothes in cold water, purchasing Energy Star rated appliances and replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps are all ways in which we can reduce the amount of energy we use, live more comfortably, lower our energy bills and help to protect the environment. Learn more by visiting Central Hudson’s Energy Efficiency page here; and help your children learn about wise energy use through our Kids Corne r.

What is Central Hudson doing to improve customer service?

Low rates: Central Hudson has continuously offered low electric rates that are well below the state average (about 20 percent less in 2007), and which are currently second lowest in New York for residential, commercial and industrial customers. After deregulation, customers were not subject to Competitive Transition Charges, and received $90 million in direct refunds, rate reductions and other benefits through a Customer Benefit Fund established after the successful auction of the former power plants. Natural gas rates are near the state average.

Satisfied customers: Central Hudson’s customers give the utility high marks in customer satisfaction. In surveys by JD Power and Associates, customers have ranked Central Hudson above average in the Eastern Region (and second-highest for New York in 2007); and internal customer surveys show that last year more than 93 percent of customers were satisfied overall with Central Hudson, with nearly 44 percent of customers indicating they were highly satisfied.

Excellent Performance: Central Hudson met all performance targets set by the New York State Public Service Commission in 2007. Electric reliability performance metrics were exceeded, and Central Hudson established a Reliability Improvement Team to determine the most cost-effective ways in which to improve service reliability, such as an enhanced tree trimming and vegetation management program and investments in the transmission and distribution system (quarterly meetings with the PSC staff are also held to review and discuss reliability initiatives). Customer Service quality and performance targets were also met (including the PSC complaint rate, appointments kept goals and customer satisfaction targets), as were all natural gas safety performance targets (including emergency response times).

Increasing levels of infrastructure investments: Investments in the electric and natural gas infrastructure has risen in recent years to improve service reliability and meet customer demands. As compared to the 2001 - 2005 time frame, investments in the electric infrastructure grew by about 25 percent on average in 2006 and 2007, and by 33 percent in the natural gas infrastructure over the same period.