S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
1293
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
January 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Tele-
communications
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
S. 1293 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
S. 1293 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
S. 1293 4
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.
