Central Hudson Got You Annoyed? How to Enter Your Meter Reading

Have you been annoyed, angry, or frustrated with your Central Hudson bill? Since the change over to the new software system in September of 2021, there have been more and more complaints shared with friends on social media. Have you been affected?

The reasons for the increase in your bills have been because the energy is costing Central Hudson more. While you probably can't do anything about that, how can you at least try to get accurate information for your bill to Central Hudson?

How can you help Central Hudson get accurate info for your residential bill?

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One of the big ways you can help to (attempt) to get a more accurate bill is to enter your meter reading yourself. While it doesn't sound like it should be that difficult, depending on the type of meter you have, it can be a little tricky.

How can you go about reading your own utility meter? Is that legal?

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While Central Hudson gives you an estimated bill one month (allegedly based on what you have used previously) and then the following month you are supposed to have your meter read by a Central Hudson employee, to give you an actual cost. So estimated one month, real the next. Because of covid and staffing issues, that has not been happening and in a few cases, people are getting estimated bills for three months in a row.

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How to tell what kind of electric meter you have? Is the meter electric or analog?

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To read your meter, find out what kind you have. Do you have an old-fashioned or analog meter or do you have a digital meter? If you have a digital meter, you can just enter the number on the CH website, or you can take a photo of it and upload it.

What happens if you have an analog electric meter? How do you read that?

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Those are a little more complicated. Seriously, how could 5 little dials look one way to you and then a whole different way to the electric company? When you can, take a photo of it, make sure to get your meter number on the photo, and then upload it. Can't do that? How do you read them?

According to the Central Hudson website, here is how you can read the meters if you don't want to take a photo: Starting from left to right, observe on each dial where the position of the hand falls. If the hand falls between two numbers, choose the lower number, otherwise use the number at which the hand points directly.

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