Paul Kirby is reporting for the Daily Freeman Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp. will begin charging late-fees again starting in October, a company spokesperson said last week. Joseph Jenkins said in 2020 the company, as well as many other utilities, suspended late fees during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Central Hudson now is notifying customers that we will soon resume the practice of assessing late payment charges for payments submitted after the payment due date,” Jenkins said in an email. “We are targeting October as the start date to resume these charges.” However, the watchdog group, the Public Utility Law Project, has communicated with the Public Service Commission demanding that Central Hudson be stopped from re-instituting the late fees until the commission concludes its investigation into the company's skyrocketing utility charges and other billing issues. According to its letter, “PULP strongly opposes the use of late fees of any kind during the pendency of this ongoing matter. We urge the company to not re-introduce late payment charges until this matter has been fully resolved, and we ask the commission to order the company to halt the use of any late fees relating to billing.” Jenkins denied there was a widespread problem, saying that while there are some households who have experienced issues, the vast majority of Central Hudson customers have received accurate and on-time bills. Read more in the Daily Freeman.