After thousands of Central Hudson customers lost power during last week’s storm, some of those customers are now calling on the utility to reimburse them for food and medicine that went bad while their power was out.

What You Need To Know

  • Thousands of Central Hudson customers lost power due to tropical storm Isaias last week. Over 30 percent of Orange County was without power that Tuesday

  • Some customers say Central Hudson should reimburse them for the food and medicine they lost when power was down

  • Senators Metzger and Skoufis are echoing those calls for Central Hudson to reimburse customers

Marcela Barboza is a single mother of two living in the city of Newburgh. When tropical storm Isaias swept through Orange County last week, downing trees and power lines on her block, she lost power for three days.

To prepare for the storm, Barboza says she bought about $200 worth of groceries for her family on Monday, but then the storm hit.

"We had a lot of leafy greens, we had a lot of tomatoes," said Barboza. "We also had some food I stored in the fridge that also went to waste by the third day."

Marcela says she heard Central Hudson customers in the town of Newburgh and Poughkeepsie were given dry ice to keep their perishables cold but she said it wasn’t distributed in her area.

"Did I expect a little more organization from Central Hudson, providing dry ice or regular ice or water?, definitely," said Barboza.

Central Hudson told Spectrum News they did distribute ice and water to customers in the city of Newburgh at the Armory, but dry ice was in limited supply due to the pandemic.

Now Barboza and other Central Hudson customers are calling on the utility company to reimburse them for food and medicine they lost after days without power.

"They should reimburse or at least give some credit," said Barboza. "You get to choose; you want electricity credit or you want a $100 gift card to the supermarket."

Senators Jen Metzger and James Skoufis are echoing those calls. 

“It is unconscionable that Central Hudson refuses to join other New York utilities to reimburse customers for losses of perishable food and medications due to prolonged power outages, particularly given the financial hardship many households are experiencing because of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Metzger. "Central Hudson needs to step up and do the right thing for its customers.”

Central Hudson says it reimburses customers for damages caused by the utility, but because electric service interruptions from this storm were from natural causes it won’t reimburse customers for losses from this storm.

It suggests residents consult their home insurance for reimbursement. Its competitor, Orange & Rockland, is offering reimbursements for customers who lost food or medicine due to the power outages.