Rule 13a-14(a)/15d-14(a) Certification                              Exhibit 31.1

I, Paul J. Ganci, Chairman of the Board of CH Energy Group, Inc. and Chairman of
the Board of Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation (the "Registrants"), do
hereby certify for each of the Registrants that:

      1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of the Registrants;

      2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this report;

      3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of
      the Registrants as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

      4. The Registrants' other certifying officers and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Registrants
      and we have:

            a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
            Registrants, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
            to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
            period in which this report is being prepared;

            b) evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrants' disclosure
            controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
            about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
            as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
            evaluation; and

            c) disclosed in this report any change in the Registrants' internal
            control over financial reporting that occurred during the
            Registrants' most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
            affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
            Registrants' internal control over financial reporting; and

      5) The Registrants' other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based
      on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
      reporting, to the Registrants' auditors and the audit committee of the
      Registrants' board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
      functions):

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            a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
            design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
            which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Registrants'
            ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
            information; and

            b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the Registrants'
            internal control over financial reporting.

                              CH ENERGY GROUP, INC.
                                  (Registrant)

                             By: /s/ Paul J. Ganci
                                --------------------------
                                  Paul J. Ganci
                              Chairman of the Board


                    CENTRAL HUDSON GAS & ELECTRIC CORPORATION
                                 (Co-Registrant)

                             By: /s/ Paul J. Ganci
                                --------------------------
                                  Paul J. Ganci
                              Chairman of the Board

Dated: August 12, 2003