Bill Text: NY A04573 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Directs the department of public service to prepare written reports on the effect the COVID-19 state of emergency has on certain utilities of electric, gas, water, wastewater, and telephone service to commercial and residential customers in the state and on the affordability of services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A04573 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A04573-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4573

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 17, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. ZEBROWSKI, L. ROSENTHAL, THIELE, STECK -- read
          once and referred to the Committee on  Corporations,  Authorities  and
          Commissions

        AN  ACT  directing the department of public service to prepare a written
          report on the affordability of utility services

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

     1    Section  1.  Legislative  findings and declaration. In response to the
     2  COVID-19 pandemic, chapters 108 and 126 of the laws of 2020 were adopted
     3  to ensure that New Yorkers would not be deprived of gas, electric, water
     4  service, helping households follow the vital state policy of "sheltering
     5  in place."  The moratorium prohibited termination of utility services at
     6  a pivotal moment when it became evident that  sanitary  conditions  were
     7  required  to  combat  the  COVID-19  virus and keep New Yorkers safe and
     8  healthy, especially seniors and the medically vulnerable.  The  legisla-
     9  ture  finds  and  declares that it is unknown to the state the number of
    10  New Yorkers who had their services terminated or disconnected during the
    11  pandemic. The legislature finds that  many  utility  customers  rely  on
    12  continuous  service  for heat, water, and electricity to power necessary
    13  equipment, such as life-saving health care devices and other New Yorkers
    14  require cooling during extreme heat conditions and heat  during  extreme
    15  cold  conditions,  particularly when congregate care cooling and heating
    16  facilities are not safe for use by medically vulnerable households.  The
    17  legislature finds that the state requires comprehensive data  concerning
    18  New  Yorkers' ability to afford utility service, including the number of
    19  New Yorkers who had their services terminated or who  are  currently  at
    20  risk of termination during the pandemic. The legislature finds that this
    21  data  is  critical  to ascertain the effectiveness of the moratorium and
    22  other COVID-19 consumer protections, as well as the  disruptive  effects
    23  that  the  pandemic  has had on utility customers' finances, and utility
    24  finances and services, and the public  health,  safety  and  welfare  of

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01633-01-3

        A. 4573                             2

     1  millions  of medically and financially vulnerable citizens. The legisla-
     2  ture also finds that the permanent collection and reporting  of  utility
     3  data  is  imperative  to  gain  regular  updates  on and evaluate trends
     4  concerning  the scale and extent of terminations and utility debt across
     5  the state, so that evidence-based policy can be properly crafted  there-
     6  after.
     7    § 2. 1. As used in this act:
     8    a.  "Assistance  program"  shall  mean any program offered to eligible
     9  low-income customers to assist with the costs of electricity,  gas,  and
    10  water,  including  but not limited to the low-income home energy assist-
    11  ance program, any low-income affordability plans as provided  by  public
    12  service  commission  case  number  14-M-0565, and/or any other financial
    13  assistance program provided through or by New York state  or  individual
    14  utilities, counties or municipalities.
    15    b.  "COVID-19  state of emergency" shall mean the state disaster emer-
    16  gency declared pursuant to executive order 202 of 2020.
    17    c. "Commission" shall mean the public service commission.
    18    d. "Municipality" shall have the same meaning  as  subdivision  16  of
    19  section  2  of  the  public  service law and shall include potable water
    20  districts and potable water systems owned and/or  operated  by  a  city,
    21  town, village, authority or other governmental subdivision.
    22    e.  "Utility"  shall  mean  a municipality, utility corporation, steam
    23  corporation, water-works corporation, an electric corporation as defined
    24  in subdivision 13 of section 2 of the public service law, a  gas  corpo-
    25  ration  as  defined in subdivision 11 of section 2 of the public service
    26  law, a combination gas and electric corporation as defined  in  subdivi-
    27  sion  14  of section 2 of the public service law, a steam corporation as
    28  defined in subdivision 22 of section 2 of the public service law and any
    29  other community water system as defined in 10 NYCRR § 5-1.1.
    30    f. "Utility corporation" shall have the same meaning  as  subdivisions
    31  23 and 24 of section 2 of the public service law.
    32    g.  "Water-works  corporation" shall have the same meaning as subdivi-
    33  sion 27 of section 2 of the public service law.
    34    2. a. Every utility shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the public
    35  service commission for the purposes of enforcing the provisions of  this
    36  act  pursuant  to  sections 24, 25 and 26 of the public service law. The
    37  commission shall adjudicate complaints and  conduct  investigations  for
    38  violation  of this act in the manner provided by the provisions of arti-
    39  cle 2 of the public service law.
    40    b. Within 180 days after the effective date of this act,  the  commis-
    41  sion  shall  prepare  and  submit  to the governor and the legislature a
    42  written report that shall make findings and  recommendations  concerning
    43  the affordability of electric, gas, and water services to commercial and
    44  residential  customers in this state. An updated report shall be submit-
    45  ted one year after the commission has submitted such initial  report  to
    46  the  governor  and legislature.   Without unreasonably exposing consumer
    47  personally identifiable information in a  manner  that  violates  public
    48  service  law  and public service commission practice or federal law, the
    49  reports shall include but not be limited  to  the  following,  with  all
    50  information  to  be  broken  down  by utility, type of service provided,
    51  month, customer class and county:
    52    (1) the number of customers and how that number compares to the previ-
    53  ous year's number of customers on the same month and day;
    54    (2) the number of  disconnection  notices  sent  due  to  non-payment,
    55  disconnections  due to non-payment, reconnections of customers that were

        A. 4573                             3

     1  disconnected for non-payment, and  how  those  numbers  compare  to  the
     2  previous year on the same month and day;
     3    (3) the number of liens on real property placed, sold, or enforced due
     4  to  non-payment,  and  how those numbers compare to the previous year on
     5  the same month and day, if applicable;
     6    (4) the number of customers in arrears by 1-90 days, 90-180 days,  and
     7  greater  than 180 days at the end of each month, the total dollar amount
     8  of arrears, and how those numbers compare to the previous  year  on  the
     9  same  month  and day.  Provided, however, that a utility or municipality
    10  may petition the commission, in a form and manner to  be  determined  by
    11  the  commission,  to  allow such utility or municipality to provide such
    12  data in an alternative format if the specificity set forth in  this  act
    13  cannot  be  obtained  from  an  existing  utility information technology
    14  system and such data would result in the increase  of  customer  utility
    15  bills;
    16    (5) the number of customers that became eligible for disconnection due
    17  to  bill  non-payment  but  were not disconnected because of any legally
    18  mandated or voluntary suspension of disconnections due to  the  COVID-19
    19  state  of emergency, or for any other statutory, regulatory or voluntary
    20  reason irrespective of the COVID-19 emergency, or such other  states  of
    21  emergency as may follow the end of the COVID-19 emergency;
    22    (6) the number of customers enrolled in deferred payment agreements at
    23  the end of each month;
    24    (7) the number of customers that entered into, successfully completed,
    25  or  defaulted  from  a deferred payment agreement, and how those numbers
    26  compare to the previous year on the same month and day;
    27    (8) available customer assistance programs, including terms of  eligi-
    28  bility,  and  any enhancements   to  the programs that have been made or
    29  are planned to address actual or anticipated increased demand;
    30    (9) the number of customers  that  applied  for  financial  assistance
    31  under  each applicable assistance program, and how those numbers compare
    32  to the previous year on the same month and day;
    33    (10) the number of customers receiving assistance under  each  assist-
    34  ance  program  at  the  end  of  each  month, the total dollar amount of
    35  assistance provided for arrears, the total dollar amount  of  assistance
    36  provided  for current or future bills and the average amount per custom-
    37  er, and how those numbers compare to the previous year on the same month
    38  and day;
    39    (11) the number of customers  charged  late  fees,  penalties,  recon-
    40  nection  fees,  interest,  and  any  other  charge  associated with late
    41  payment of a bill;
    42    (12) the total dollar amount of late fees, penalties, interest, recon-
    43  nection fees and any other  charge  associated  with  late  payment  per
    44  customer,  the  average  and  median  dollar  amount  billed to customer
    45  accounts and the average and median utility usage per customer account;
    46    (13) the methods and contents of general communications  by  utilities
    47  to  customer  accounts  concerning their rights and available assistance
    48  programs, excluding any customer-specific communications; and
    49    (14) the commission's assessment of whether existing customer  assist-
    50  ance programs are presently and will in the future be sufficient to meet
    51  the  financial  needs  of customer accounts in arrears who are unable to
    52  pay those arrears in full, as well as the needs of customer accounts who
    53  may be unable to pay bills for current service.
    54    c. Following the commission's submission of the reports to the  gover-
    55  nor  and  legislature  such  reports shall be posted on the commission's
    56  website and be subject to 30 days of  public  comment  on  affordability

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     1  from the date of the submission to the governor and the legislature. The
     2  commission  shall  provide meaningful  opportunities for  public comment
     3  from  all  persons who will be impacted by findings of  the  commission,
     4  including    persons  living  in  disadvantaged communities and in rural
     5  communities across  the  state  in  entirety.  Within  90  days  of  the
     6  submission  of the initial report, the commission shall conduct at least
     7  five public  hearings in different regions of the state,   as    defined
     8  by    the  empire  state development corporation, and provide meaningful
     9  opportunity for comment. The public hearings may be held virtually.
    10    d. Each utility shall, within 90 days of the effective  date  of  this
    11  act,  submit  to  the commission, in a form and manner determined by the
    12  commission, the information required pursuant to  paragraph  b  of  this
    13  subdivision.    Six months after the submission of the initial report to
    14  the governor and legislature, each utility shall submit to  the  commis-
    15  sion, in a form and manner determined by the commission, the information
    16  required pursuant to paragraph b of this subdivision. Each utility shall
    17  publish  on  its website the data it reports pursuant to this paragraph,
    18  simultaneously with submission of the data to the commission.
    19    3. If the data required by this act cannot reasonably be obtained from
    20  an existing utility information technology system without an increase in
    21  customer utility bills, a  utility  or  municipality  may  petition  the
    22  commission,  in a form and manner to be determined by the commission, to
    23  provide the required data in an alternative format.
    24    4. The commission shall publish on its website  the  reports  required
    25  pursuant  to  subdivision  two  of this section, simultaneously with the
    26  submission of each report.  The reports shall  include  the  information
    27  required pursuant to this section in a spreadsheet format.
    28    § 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
    29  sion,  section  or  part  of  this act shall be adjudged by any court of
    30  competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment  shall  not  affect,
    31  impair,  or  invalidate  the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
    32  its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph,  subdivision,  section
    33  or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
    34  ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
    35  the  legislature  that  this  act  would  have been enacted even if such
    36  invalid provisions had not been included herein.
    37    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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