CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Central Hudson Gas & Electric used to boast it had the lowest bills in the state of any of the investor-owned utilities.

On Thursday, it said an industry report found its bills were the lowest for commercial and industrial customers and second-lowest for residential customers.

The Edison Electric Institute said commercial customers of Central Hudson, including small and mid-sized businesses, churches, schools and so on, paid electricity prices that were about 66 percent of the state average. Industrials were less than half the state average. Residential customers paid 15 percent below the state average, Central Hudson said in its statement.

For residential customers, the institute found Rochester Gas & Electric was lower than Central Hudson and New York State Electric and Gas was slightly higher. National Grid was slightly higher than NYSEG. The costliest utility was far and away Con Edison, which serves New York City and Westchester County.

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