It took some chutzpah for the Public Service Commission to trumpet the latest Central Hudson gas and electric rate increases as a victory for consumers, practically begging for the inevitable catcalls from politicians, consumers and public power advocates.

The new numbers approved by the PSC and announced Thursday take effect Aug. 1, run for one year and include price increases of 16.5 percent for electricity and 20 percent for gas, an average of roughly $12 per bill for each, and a total to the utility of more than $74 million additional electricity revenues and more than $23 million for gas.

The PSC's press release on the matter carries this headline: “Adopted Rate Plan Cuts the Company’s Request by More Than Half. Commission Uses Recent $62 Million Settlement to Reduce Customer Rates.” Both sentences are accurate. And the commission's order spells out the history of CH's colossal billing snafu and rate increase history in 161 pages of excruciating detail.

The commission justifies the rate increases as “necessary to ensure the company continues to provide safe and reliable service at just and reasonable rates, while advancing commission and state policies, including the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).”

In a press release, the utility applauded the PSC ruling as enabling, among other things, “critical electric and natural gas infrastructure investments that will replace equipment that has reached the end of its useful life”; “preparation and response to severe weather events”; and “Upgrades to technologies that will improve the customer experience.”

But state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, one of the utility’s several foes in Ulster’s elected officials community, firmly and politely, wasn't buying it. “While we appreciate the PSC’s thorough review of this rate case,” she wrote in a press release, “ ... it’s clear we have to continue fighting for legislation that holds these companies accountable to our communities.” Specifically, Hinchey means her proposed ban on estimated billing and “in the long-term,” “exploring” the creation of a publicly owned power company to replace Central Hudson altogether.

Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha was more adamant. In a Kingston Wire op-ed tracing our nation's history of privately owned, publicly regulated power, she wrote, “What we’ve seen is a total failure of that compromise: corporate utilities get rate increases and provide poor service, while large holding companies amass them across the world as purely profit-making assets.”

Shrestha, the only state legislator to act as an intervenor in the CH rate case, claimed some small victories, including the one-year limit on the rate hikes. But in sum, she wrote, touting her Hudson Valley Power Authority Act, to “truly protect ratepayers,” “we must right a past wrong and restore energy as a public good.”

From day one, I’ve been fighting to lower costs and hold Central Hudson accountable. With Hudson Valley families feeling the economic pressure, allowing any rate increase is completely unacceptable,” said Congressman Pat Ryan, who’s also harshly criticized the utility. “We’re all still reeling from years of systemic failure by Central Hudson — while their profits continue to grow at our expense. We can’t back down.”

“This is a very tough time for our residents, with some 46 percent of households considered housing cost-burdened, and many just have no slack in their household budget to afford any utility bill increases," said County Executive Jen Metzger. "Even with the PSC's significant action to cut the requested rate increase by more than half, the approved rate hike is nonetheless going to add to the cost burden facing low- and moderate-income residents. I strongly encourage income-eligible residents to take advantage of the NYSERDA EmPower+ Program, which provides no-cost and low-cost building and appliance upgrades to homes for both renters and home-owners that will reduce energy use and utility bills now and for the long-term."

Communities for Local Power Executive Director Jess Mullen noted that while CH is getting a rate increase, one of four of its customers are more than two months behind on their bills. “These numbers highlight a major affordability crisis facing ratepayers,” Mullen stated. “No one has trust in Central Hudson and we are ready for a change.”

"My energy bill has become unaffordable,” New Paltz Environmental Policy Board member Greg Van Pukeston said. “I'm appalled that Central Hudson is allowed to continue its price gouging, its rate hikes and its exploitive behavior towards their customers.”

A couple of things in the PSC order raise questions. For one thing, incorporating the results of its recent settlement with CH over the company's years of billing and customer service issues, the commission dunned shareholders of the utility’s parent company Fortis, Inc. about $6 million for implementation of monthly meter reading: $8 million in negative revenue adjustments.

On June 1, Fortis paid dividends to shareholders of $0.59 per share on each of 491,600,000 shares. Do the math.

The lawsuit settlement also prevents Fortis from attempting to recover the approximately $35.3 million it spent to repair its billing system. “You broke it; you fix it,” paraphrases the matter nicely.