Rep. Pat Ryan from the floor of the House or Representatives on Feb. 1, 2023. (
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In a speech from the House floor on Feb. 1, U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan (NY-18) called on Central Hudson President and CEO Charles A. Freni, Jr. to resign. He released the following statement:
Since my calls for an investigation into Central Hudson’s disastrous billing practices almost a year ago, we’ve received more than 11,000 formal complaints. A New York State Department of Public Service report revealed that Central Hudson’s billing system was riddled with hundreds of programming errors. This led to nearly 5,000 customers not receiving their bills, 8,000 customers being overcharged, and more than 30,000 customers whose autopay was billed incorrectly, costing them over $16 million.
In response to this devastating report, Central Hudson doubled down on their deflection, denial, and deception. Rather than taking ownership of their failures, they claimed that no customers were overcharged and that nobody lost money.
Because of these failures and Central Hudson’s continued unwillingness to take accountability, today I am calling on Central Hudson’s CEO Mr. Charles Freni to do the right thing, and resign. We need a new leader who will improve service, finally fix these systemic problems, and start the critical work to rebuild trust. That is what the people of the Hudson Valley deserve.