NY State Senate Bill 2011-S6094

Senate Bill S6094

2011-2012 Legislative Session

Requires the public service commission to establish standards of acceptable performance for electric corporations

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Energy And Telecommunications Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 04, 2012	referred to energy and telecommunications

2011-S6094 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Energy And Telecommunications
Law Section:: Public Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §66, Pub Serv L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2013-2014: S710
2015-2016: S1389
2017-2018: S2439
2019-2020: S1606
2021-2022: S3028
2023-2024: S403

2011-S6094 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the public service commission to establish standards of acceptable performance for electric corporations.

2011-S6094 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S6094

TITLE OF BILL:

An act
to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring the public
service commission to establish standards of acceptable performance for
electric corporations

PURPOSE OF BILL:

This bill would require the public service commission to establish
standards for gas and electric corporations in the event of a power
outage.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 66 of the public service law would be amended by adding a new
subdivision 2-b

Section 1 - Gives the public service commission the power to establish
performance standards for gas and electric corporations in the event
of a power outage.

Section 1(a) - Performance standards shall be based on the foreseeable
nature of the outage and the number of customers affected.

Section 1(b) - Corporations found to be in violation of the standards
set forth by the public service commission shall be penalized for
each violation in a manner which the commission deems just and proper.

Section 1(c)- Penalties shall include but not be limited to a credit
for each customer of the amount of money charged for one kilowatt
hour for each kilowatt hour of service outage.

Section 2 - This act shall take effect immediately.

JUSTIFICATION:

On October 29, 2011 the Northeast was hit with a powerful snow storm
affecting more than 2 million homes and businesses and causing the
deaths of at least three people. More than 2.3 million customers lost
power, and firms were bringing in crews from other states to help
restore it. Governor Andrew Cuomo, declared a state of emergency for
13 counties.

Although there was no way to prevent the storm, this early winter snow
fall turned into outrage when thousands of utility customers reported
no power well into the month of November. Many New Yorkers
complained that the response time of the utility
companies begged for improvement.

Outraged by utility response time, our neighboring states of
Connecticut and Pennsylvania plan to introduce legislation creating
standards of acceptable performance modeled after Massachusetts law.


The state of Massachusetts enacted legislation in 2009 in the wake of
lackadaisical utility response to an ice storm that year.

New York should follow in our neighboring states' footsteps to ensure
that our residents are not without power for an unreasonable amount
of time due to unacceptable performance by our utility companies.

This bill would allow the Public Service Commission to create
standards of acceptable performance for utility companies with
respect to serving customers and power restoration following outages.
Establishing these standards to provide a blueprint to our utility
companies for acceptable response time. Failure to meet those
standards would result in penalties for the utility company and
reimbursement to the customers affected.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately.

2011-S6094 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  6094

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 4, 2012
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on  Energy  and  Telecommuni-
  cations

AN  ACT  to  amend  the public service law, in relation to requiring the
  public  service  commission  to  establish  standards  of   acceptable
  performance for electric corporations

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Section 66 of the public service law is amended by adding a
new subdivision 2-b to read as follows:
  2-B. HAVE POWER TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS OF ACCEPTABLE  PERFORMANCE  FOR
GAS  CORPORATIONS  AND  ELECTRIC  CORPORATIONS  IN  THE EVENT OF A POWER
OUTAGE AND SUBSEQUENT POWER RESTORATION.
  (A) SUCH RULES AND REGULATIONS SHALL SET PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR THE
RESTORATION OF POWER BASED ON THE FORESEEABLE NATURE OF THE  OUTAGE  AND
THE NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS AFFECTED.
  (B) AFTER AN INVESTIGATION AND HEARING HELD ON NOTICE AND UPON A FIND-
ING  OF  UNACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE, THE COMMISSION SHALL IMPOSE A PENALTY
FOR EACH VIOLATION WHICH THE COMMISSION DEEMS JUST AND PROPER.
  (C) SUCH PENALTIES SHALL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED  TO  A  CREDIT  TO
EACH  CUSTOMER  OF THE AMOUNT OF MONEY CHARGED FOR ONE KILOWATT HOUR FOR
EACH KILOWATT HOUR OF SERVICE OUTAGE.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.




 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD13683-02-2

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.