HUDSON\u00a0\u2014 Earlier this month, National Grid sent the city of Hudson a notice threatening to disconnect its 891 streetlights, along with a bill for $105,000 in unpaid electricity costs dating back at least a year.<\/p>\n
That came as a shock to local officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first we thought they were sticking us with an extra 100 grand,\u201d Department of Public Works Superintendent Robert Perry Jr. told the Times Union on Thursday.<\/p>\n
But city public works employees soon identified the real cause: the utility company had not been regularly billing Hudson for streetlight electricity since the city began upgrading to energy-efficient LED bulbs in 2024.<\/p>\n
The city and the utility company disagree over the cause of the billing mishap. Hudson Mayor Joseph Ferris said the contractor who installed the LED lights provided National Grid with updated wattage information for each fixture. Hudson\u2019s Department of Public Works was \u201creceiving bills, but not for the correct amount,\u201d Ferris said.<\/p>\n
But National Grid spokesperson Patrick Stella said the city and its contractor delayed submitting the required information for about 18 months\u00a0\u2014 from 2024 to mid-2025\u00a0\u2014 and failed to provide the \u201cdetailed information\u201d needed to initiate proper billing. According to Stella, the city and the contractor were aware that billing was on hold until the utility company received the updated wattage readings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took 18 months to get that information from the city, so we didn\u2019t bill them for 18 months,\u201d Stella said. \u201cThis was done intentionally to avoid overbilling.\u201d<\/p>\n
The problem has created a financial headache for Hudson officials. Perry said the city already spent the $168,000 allocated for street lighting in its 2025 budget. Records show the city\u2019s 2026 budget includes just $30,000 for streetlight operating costs, far short of the amount needed to cover the unexpected bill.<\/p>\n
While Hudson had been paying about $18,000 per month\u00a0\u2014 or about $215,000 annually\u00a0\u2014 in streetlight electricity costs before the conversion to LED, Ferris said the city paid only a small fraction of that in 2025 based on what he labeled incorrect bills from National Grid. The low amount allocated for streetlights in the latest budget reflected that underpayment and will be corrected in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Neither the mayor nor the Department of Public Works could explain why city officials failed to flag the low electricity bills.<\/p>\n