S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4573
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             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:
 
   Section  1.  Legislative  findings and declaration. In response to the
 COVID-19 pandemic, chapters 108 and 126 of the laws of 2020 were adopted
 to ensure that New Yorkers would not be deprived of gas, electric, water
 service, helping households follow the vital state policy of "sheltering
 in place."  The moratorium prohibited termination of utility services at
 a pivotal moment when it became evident that  sanitary  conditions  were
 required  to  combat  the  COVID-19  virus and keep New Yorkers safe and
 healthy, especially seniors and the medically vulnerable.  The  legisla-
 ture  finds  and  declares that it is unknown to the state the number of
 New Yorkers who had their services terminated or disconnected during the
 pandemic. The legislature finds that  many  utility  customers  rely  on
 continuous  service  for heat, water, and electricity to power necessary
 equipment, such as life-saving health care devices and other New Yorkers
 require cooling during extreme heat conditions and heat  during  extreme
 cold  conditions,  particularly when congregate care cooling and heating
 facilities are not safe for use by medically vulnerable households.  The
 legislature finds that the state requires comprehensive data  concerning
 New  Yorkers' ability to afford utility service, including the number of
 New Yorkers who had their services terminated or who  are  currently  at
 risk of termination during the pandemic. The legislature finds that this
 data  is  critical  to ascertain the effectiveness of the moratorium and
 other COVID-19 consumer protections, as well as the  disruptive  effects
 that  the  pandemic  has had on utility customers' finances, and utility
 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
 
 millions  of medically and financially vulnerable citizens. The legisla-
 ture also finds that the permanent collection and reporting  of  utility
 data  is  imperative  to  gain  regular  updates  on and evaluate trends
 concerning  the scale and extent of terminations and utility debt across
 the state, so that evidence-based policy can be properly crafted  there-
 after.
   § 2. 1. As used in this act:
   a.  "Assistance  program"  shall  mean any program offered to eligible
 low-income customers to assist with the costs of electricity,  gas,  and
 water,  including  but not limited to the low-income home energy assist-
 ance program, any low-income affordability plans as provided  by  public
 service  commission  case  number  14-M-0565, and/or any other financial
 assistance program provided through or by New York state  or  individual
 utilities, counties or municipalities.
   b.  "COVID-19  state of emergency" shall mean the state disaster emer-
 gency declared pursuant to executive order 202 of 2020.
   c. "Commission" shall mean the public service commission.
   d. "Municipality" shall have the same meaning  as  subdivision  16  of
 section  2  of  the  public  service law and shall include potable water
 districts and potable water systems owned and/or  operated  by  a  city,
 town, village, authority or other governmental subdivision.
   e.  "Utility"  shall  mean  a municipality, utility corporation, steam
 corporation, water-works corporation, an electric corporation as defined
 in subdivision 13 of section 2 of the public service law, a  gas  corpo-
 ration  as  defined in subdivision 11 of section 2 of the public service
 law, a combination gas and electric corporation as defined  in  subdivi-
 sion  14  of section 2 of the public service law, a steam corporation as
 defined in subdivision 22 of section 2 of the public service law and any
 other community water system as defined in 10 NYCRR § 5-1.1.
   f. "Utility corporation" shall have the same meaning  as  subdivisions
 23 and 24 of section 2 of the public service law.
   g.  "Water-works  corporation" shall have the same meaning as subdivi-
 sion 27 of section 2 of the public service law.
   2. a. Every utility shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the public
 service commission for the purposes of enforcing the provisions of  this
 act  pursuant  to  sections 24, 25 and 26 of the public service law. The
 commission shall adjudicate complaints and  conduct  investigations  for
 violation  of this act in the manner provided by the provisions of arti-
 cle 2 of the public service law.
   b. Within 180 days after the effective date of this act,  the  commis-
 sion  shall  prepare  and  submit  to the governor and the legislature a
 written report that shall make findings and  recommendations  concerning
 the affordability of electric, gas, and water services to commercial and
 residential  customers in this state. An updated report shall be submit-
 ted one year after the commission has submitted such initial  report  to
 the  governor  and legislature.   Without unreasonably exposing consumer
 personally identifiable information in a  manner  that  violates  public
 service  law  and public service commission practice or federal law, the
 reports shall include but not be limited  to  the  following,  with  all
 information  to  be  broken  down  by utility, type of service provided,
 month, customer class and county:
   (1) the number of customers and how that number compares to the previ-
 ous year's number of customers on the same month and day;
   (2) the number of  disconnection  notices  sent  due  to  non-payment,
 disconnections  due to non-payment, reconnections of customers that were
 A. 4573                             3
 
 disconnected for non-payment, and  how  those  numbers  compare  to  the
 previous year on the same month and day;
   (3) the number of liens on real property placed, sold, or enforced due
 to  non-payment,  and  how those numbers compare to the previous year on
 the same month and day, if applicable;
   (4) the number of customers in arrears by 1-90 days, 90-180 days,  and
 greater  than 180 days at the end of each month, the total dollar amount
 of arrears, and how those numbers compare to the previous  year  on  the
 same  month  and day.  Provided, however, that a utility or municipality
 may petition the commission, in a form and manner to  be  determined  by
 the  commission,  to  allow such utility or municipality to provide such
 data in an alternative format if the specificity set forth in  this  act
 cannot  be  obtained  from  an  existing  utility information technology
 system and such data would result in the increase  of  customer  utility
 bills;
   (5) the number of customers that became eligible for disconnection due
 to  bill  non-payment  but  were not disconnected because of any legally
 mandated or voluntary suspension of disconnections due to  the  COVID-19
 state  of emergency, or for any other statutory, regulatory or voluntary
 reason irrespective of the COVID-19 emergency, or such other  states  of
 emergency as may follow the end of the COVID-19 emergency;
   (6) the number of customers enrolled in deferred payment agreements at
 the end of each month;
   (7) the number of customers that entered into, successfully completed,
 or  defaulted  from  a deferred payment agreement, and how those numbers
 compare to the previous year on the same month and day;
   (8) available customer assistance programs, including terms of  eligi-
 bility,  and  any enhancements   to  the programs that have been made or
 are planned to address actual or anticipated increased demand;
   (9) the number of customers  that  applied  for  financial  assistance
 under  each applicable assistance program, and how those numbers compare
 to the previous year on the same month and day;
   (10) the number of customers receiving assistance under  each  assist-
 ance  program  at  the  end  of  each  month, the total dollar amount of
 assistance provided for arrears, the total dollar amount  of  assistance
 provided  for current or future bills and the average amount per custom-
 er, and how those numbers compare to the previous year on the same month
 and day;
   (11) the number of customers  charged  late  fees,  penalties,  recon-
 nection  fees,  interest,  and  any  other  charge  associated with late
 payment of a bill;
   (12) the total dollar amount of late fees, penalties, interest, recon-
 nection fees and any other  charge  associated  with  late  payment  per
 customer,  the  average  and  median  dollar  amount  billed to customer
 accounts and the average and median utility usage per customer account;
   (13) the methods and contents of general communications  by  utilities
 to  customer  accounts  concerning their rights and available assistance
 programs, excluding any customer-specific communications; and
   (14) the commission's assessment of whether existing customer  assist-
 ance programs are presently and will in the future be sufficient to meet
 the  financial  needs  of customer accounts in arrears who are unable to
 pay those arrears in full, as well as the needs of customer accounts who
 may be unable to pay bills for current service.
   c. Following the commission's submission of the reports to the  gover-
 nor  and  legislature  such  reports shall be posted on the commission's
 website and be subject to 30 days of  public  comment  on  affordability
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 from the date of the submission to the governor and the legislature. The
 commission  shall  provide meaningful  opportunities for  public comment
 from  all  persons who will be impacted by findings of  the  commission,
 including    persons  living  in  disadvantaged communities and in rural
 communities across  the  state  in  entirety.  Within  90  days  of  the
 submission  of the initial report, the commission shall conduct at least
 five public  hearings in different regions of the state,   as    defined
 by    the  empire  state development corporation, and provide meaningful
 opportunity for comment. The public hearings may be held virtually.
   d. Each utility shall, within 90 days of the effective  date  of  this
 act,  submit  to  the commission, in a form and manner determined by the
 commission, the information required pursuant to  paragraph  b  of  this
 subdivision.    Six months after the submission of the initial report to
 the governor and legislature, each utility shall submit to  the  commis-
 sion, in a form and manner determined by the commission, the information
 required pursuant to paragraph b of this subdivision. Each utility shall
 publish  on  its website the data it reports pursuant to this paragraph,
 simultaneously with submission of the data to the commission.
   3. If the data required by this act cannot reasonably be obtained from
 an existing utility information technology system without an increase in
 customer utility bills, a  utility  or  municipality  may  petition  the
 commission,  in a form and manner to be determined by the commission, to
 provide the required data in an alternative format.
   4. The commission shall publish on its website  the  reports  required
 pursuant  to  subdivision  two  of this section, simultaneously with the
 submission of each report.  The reports shall  include  the  information
 required pursuant to this section in a spreadsheet format.
   § 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
 sion,  section  or  part  of  this act shall be adjudged by any court of
 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment  shall  not  affect,
 impair,  or  invalidate  the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph,  subdivision,  section
 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
 the  legislature  that  this  act  would  have been enacted even if such
 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.