Bill Text: NY S01199 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relates to establishing minimum standards for payment plans for eligible customers; requires the public service commission to set standards for payment plans for certain customers including reasonableness of agreements and timelines for payment; establishes eligibility.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-04-17 - referred to ways and means [S01199 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01199-Amended.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         1199--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 10, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on  Energy  and  Telecommuni-
          cations  --  committee  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
          amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the public service  law,  in  relation  to  establishing
          minimum standards for payment plans for eligible customers

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

     1    Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a  new  section
     2  66-v to read as follows:
     3    §  66-v.  Minimum  standards  for  payment plans. 1. The commission is
     4  authorized and directed to set standards for payment plans for  eligible
     5  customers set up by utility companies. Such standards shall include:
     6    (a) Whether a payment agreement is reasonable. Reasonableness shall be
     7  determined  by considering the current household income, ability to pay,
     8  payment history including prior defaults on similar agreements, the size
     9  of the bill, the amount of time and the reasons why the  bill  has  been
    10  outstanding,  and  any  special circumstances creating extreme hardships
    11  within the household. The utility company  may  require  the  person  to
    12  confirm  financial  difficulty with an acknowledgment from another state
    13  or local agency;
    14    (b) Requiring each utility company to make available to  its  residen-
    15  tial  customers  for  utility service provided at the customer's primary
    16  residence a payment plan which averages estimated utility costs  over  a
    17  ten-month  or twelve-month period to eliminate, insofar as it is practi-
    18  cable, seasonal fluctuations in utility bills;
    19    (c) Requiring each utility company to permit each customer a period of
    20  not less than twenty-one days from the date the bill was sent to pay  in
    21  full, unless the customer and the utility agree on a different due date.
    22  A  utility  company  shall  not withdraw funds from a customer's account

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04259-02-3

        S. 1199--A                          2

     1  before the due date in cases where a customer  uses  an  automatic  bill
     2  payment plan unless the customer agrees to a different period;
     3    (d)  In  the  event  a  rate change approved by the commission becomes
     4  effective or in the event the supply portion of a customer's  bill  will
     5  be  ten  percent  or  higher than the supply cost from the prior billing
     6  cycle, while a residential customer is enrolled  in  and  in  compliance
     7  with  a  payment  plan,  the effect of the rate change shall be included
     8  ratably over the remainder of the payment plan period. Included with the
     9  first adjusted bill, the utility company shall  provide  notice  to  the
    10  customer  explaining the reason for the change and showing a calculation
    11  of how the utility company arrived at the new monthly payment; and
    12    (e) While enrolled in a residential payment plan a residential custom-
    13  er's utility service  may  not  be  terminated  unless  the  residential
    14  customer violates a rule of the utility company on file with the commis-
    15  sion, disconnection is necessary for reasons of health, safety, or state
    16  or  national  emergencies,  or termination is ordered by the commission.
    17  Payment plans shall be offered to  allow  a  customer  to  pay  past-due
    18  amounts  over a period of time, unless the amounts owing relate to theft
    19  of service, tampering, an unauthorized use of  service,  or  failure  to
    20  abide  by  the terms of a time-payment plan. The customer shall make the
    21  initial payment within one business day of agreeing to the  time-payment
    22  plan.
    23    2. An individual or household shall be determined to be eligible for a
    24  payment plan under this section if such individual or household provides
    25  documentation  of  eligibility  to  the  utility  company for any of the
    26  following programs, provided such documentation is dated no  later  than
    27  three hundred sixty-five days preceding the date of the payment plan:
    28    (a) temporary assistance for needy families (family assistance);
    29    (b) safety net assistance (public assistance);
    30    (c) supplemental security income (SSI);
    31    (d) supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP);
    32    (e) low income home energy assistance program;
    33    (f) veteran's disability pension;
    34    (g) veteran's surviving spouse pension;
    35    (h) child health plus;
    36    (i) lifeline;
    37    (j) home energy assistance program (HEAP);
    38    (k) direct vendor or utility guarantee;
    39    (l) temporary assistance to needy families (TANF);
    40    (m) social security disability insurance (SSDI);
    41    (n) emergency rental assistance program (ERAP); and
    42    (o)  any  other  income-based  assistance  program  identified  by the
    43  commission.
    44    § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
    45  have become a law.
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