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utilities

Electricity bills to go up next week

Electricity bills to go up next week

After a year of public comments, formal complaints, reports, motions, reviews, billing snafus and legal decisions the New York State Public Service Commission granted a 7.85% rate increase in electric delivery rates to Central Hudson for the period starting July 1, 2024, and ending June 30,2025.

The utility initially requested a 16.4% increase from the commission, which regulates utility companies.

Central Hudson calculates this will mean an average monthly increase to customers of $12.65 and does not reflect the cost of energy supply which varies monthly depending on fuel costs.

The “Rate” game is played nationally with all regulated utility companies, which ask for more money and agree to less while remaining profitable.

State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D-41) is sponsoring legislation to turn Central Hudson into a government owned utility. Commenting on the rate increase she said, “This is not the outcome we wanted, and it’s not what Hudson Valley residents deserve after years of suffering financial hardship and distress from Central Hudson’s corporate mismanagement.”

In a public statement Central Hudson maintains that the rate increase will allow the utility to upgrade equipment and technology, respond to severe weather, and address inflationary pressures and employee turnover.

Central Hudson’s initial rate request in 2023 for a 16.5% increase was damaged by cascading billing errors which, according to a New York State Department of Public Service report, resulted in 5,000 customers never receiving bills, 8,000 households overcharged and 30,000 customers on auto pay being billed incorrectly.

By a separate $64.6 million agreement on June 20 with the Public Service Commission Central Hudson agreed to complete monthly reading of meters by Oct. 31, 2024, rather than bi-monthly or face a $2 million additional penalty.

As monthly meter reading began in April Central Hudson has begun issuing final termination notices to customers more than two months behind on their bills.

Central Hudson provides electric delivery to over 300,000 customers from Westchester to Albany. Since 2013 it has been owned by Fortis, a publicly traded Canadian company, which owns 10 utilities in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

Christine Bates
utilities

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Original art, attainable prices

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Kenise Barnes Fine Art presents “Cool & Collected ’26,” its annual exhibition celebrating the joy of collecting, featuring works priced under $2,000.

D.H. Callahan

There’s a corner of YouTube populated by real-time footage of high-dollar art sales from prestigious New York and London auction houses like Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips. Hundreds of thousands of viewers routinely watch with rapt attention, popcorn and cocktails in hand, as recognizable pieces from art history make their way to the upper echelons of grossly unattainable hammer prices. Pieces can often start with opening bids of tens of thousands of dollars and work their way up to multiple millions. Bidding increments alone can grow to sums unattainable for the average American family in several lifetimes.

Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Kent, Connecticut, wants to help make fine art more accessible. The 2026 version of the gallery’s annual “Cool and Collected” exhibition is subtitled “The Gift Edit” and features dozens of works by fine artists at prices that are much more in reach than an art-world outsider might expect. More than 30 artists contributed pieces to the show. Almost all available works are priced under $2,000, with many below $500. The collection features paintings, drawings, collage and ceramics.

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On a recent crisp, fall afternoon in Litchfield, Jennifer Terzian welcomed a steady stream of collectors, artists, and art-world insiders into her jewel box of an art space on South Street, just off the town’s manicured historic Green.

The occasion was an opening for Jenny Kemp, an artist noted for balancing fluidity and structure in her abstractions through repetition, variation, and gradual shifts in hue. Hers is exactly the kind of tactile, process-driven work Terzian champions at a subterranean space that feels less like a commercial art gallery and more like stumbling into an impeccably edited sanctuary of contemporary thought.

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Peter Cusack in his studio.
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“I think art is the thing that allows us to feel there’s something in the universe that loves us,” said painter Peter Cusack in his new studio, a mid-19th-century stone church on Main Street in North Canaan.

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Cowboy Junkies celebrate 40 years at the Mahaiwe

Cowboy Junkies celebrate 40 years at the Mahaiwe

Cowboy Junkies celebrate 40 years together at the Mahaiwe Nov. 14

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Subway stations may seem unlikely places to encounter the divine, but amid the rumble of trains, the crush of commuters and the cavernous underground passageways, Salisbury artist Mike Selbach finds moments of unexpected beauty.

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Winding down in Fall? Think again.

Winding down in Fall? Think again.
Winding down in Fall? Think again.
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