Bill Text: NY A00520 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Makes provisions regarding the payment of utility bills to authorized payment agencies providing that such payment shall be deemed to be a payment to the utility on the date of payment to the agent, requiring written contracts between a utility and its payment agent and review of such contracts by the public service commission.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A00520 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A00520-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           520

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     January 9, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions

        AN  ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to protecting resi-
          dential utility customers who make bill payments to authorized payment
          agents, to provide for written contracts between electric corporations
          and payment agents, and  to  provide  for  public  service  commission
          review of the credit-worthiness of payment agents in certain cases

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 45 of the public service law, as added  by  chapter
     2  713 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 45. Payment  agencies.  1. A utility corporation or municipality may
     4  permit its customers to pay their bills to  [a]  an  authorized  payment
     5  agent. The date of payment to any such authorized payment agent shall be
     6  regarded  as the date of payment to the utility or municipality, and the
     7  payment shall be regarded as if it were paid directly to the utility  or
     8  municipality  on  such date. Where a customer of such utility or munici-
     9  pality has paid a bill to an authorized payment agent  on  or  before  a
    10  designated  due  date,  no  penalty or extra charge shall accrue on such
    11  bill for the reason that the payment did not reach  the  corporation  or
    12  municipality on or before the designated due date.
    13    2.  No  party shall act as payment or collection agent with respect to
    14  more than twenty residential units for the  purpose  of  collecting  and
    15  remitting  to such electric corporation any charges for electric service
    16  to such residential units, including but  not  limited  to  distribution
    17  service,  unless  such  party  has a written contract with such electric
    18  corporation in compliance with subdivision three of this section.  Noth-
    19  ing  in  this  subdivision shall be construed to prevent any person from
    20  appointing any family member, other  volunteer  caregiver,  or  personal
    21  business  manager  as  his  or her agent for paying utility bills to any
    22  utility corporation.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01408-01-3
        A. 520                              2

     1    3. No  electric  corporation  shall  enter  into  any  contract  which
     2  provides  in whole or in part for collecting and remitting to such elec-
     3  tric corporation any charges for electric  service,  including  but  not
     4  limited to distribution service, unless such contract shall provide that
     5  any  party  acting as a payment or collection agent shall be the author-
     6  ized payment agent of the electric corporation.
     7    4. Each electric corporation which enters into any contract subject to
     8  subdivision three of this section shall submit  to  the  commission  for
     9  approval  each  such  contract  which  is  intended  to result in or has
    10  resulted in the authorized payment agent having in its  custody  at  any
    11  one  time  more than fifty thousand dollars to be remitted to such elec-
    12  tric corporation with respect to payments received with respect to resi-
    13  dential units. The commission shall approve such contracts  only  if  it
    14  concludes  that the authorized payment agent, with or without such secu-
    15  rity as the commission shall order, is  credit-worthy  in  view  of  the
    16  foreseeable indebtedness of the authorized payment agent to the electric
    17  corporation.
    18    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    19  have become a law.