BILL NUMBER: S7556
SPONSOR: CLEARE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring inve-
stor-owned energy utilities to collect and publish data on disadvantaged
communities in certain service areas
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill requires investor-owned energy utilities to publish statistics
about customers in disadvantaged communities on their website on an
annual basis and file them with the commission. Violations will be
penalized.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Short title: This act shall be known and may be cited as the
"Disadvantaged Communities Commitment Act."
Section 2: Adds S 28 to the public service law, which first defines
disadvantaged communities and investor-owned energy utilities. It than
requires investor-owned energy utilities to publish on their customer-
facing websites, and file with the commission, statistics about disad-
vantaged communities on an annual basis, such as the:
number of residential customers who are electric only;
number of residential customers who are gas only;
number of residential electric and gas customers;
number of residential customers enrolled in energy assistance program
(EAP);
number of residential customers enrolled in home energy assistance
program (HEAP);
number of residential customers enrolled in budget billing;
average amount of arrears amongst residential customers;
number of residential customers with active deferred payment agreements
number of residential customers impacted by any other program designed
to provide relief or assistance in paying or lowering their bills
Violations will be assessed pursuant to section twenty-five and twenty-
five-a of the public service law.
Section 3: Sets the effective date and provides instructions on imple-
mentation.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Section 7(3) of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act
(CLCPA) requires that at least thirty-five percent of the overall bene-
fits of spending on clean energy and energy efficiency programs go to
disadvantaged communities (DACs).
While New York State has put considerable effort into defining and
designating DACs so as to meet the equity goal of the CLCPA, utilities
have not yet identified and collected data on such communities in their
service area, let alone considered how their plans might be affecting
them, especially as it relates to affordability, community benefits, and
clean energy investments.
This bill requires energy utilities to collect and publish information
about the DACs in their service areas, so that stakeholders across the
state can continually assess how these communities are impacted by our
policy decisions.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.