BILL NUMBER: S7567
SPONSOR: CLEARE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public service law and the public authorities law,
in relation to providing a reimbursement to small business and residen-
tial consumers of certain utilities for failure to provide contracted
services
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This legislation creates a discount on residential consumer's bills and
for small businesses for times they're without contracted service by
certain service providers resulting from power outages.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the public service law by adding a new section 119-d
which states that a residential consumer or small business who has a
contract for service with a gas, electric, gas and electric, water,
steam, or a municipality providing equivalent service shall be entitled
to a discount when services are not provided for a period of at least 48
hours after the end of a failure of equipment, weather event, natural
disaster, or any other disruption in providing service. The Department
shall promulgate rules and regulations within 180 days to calculate how
a utility shall reimburse the impacted party.
Section 2 amends section 1020-f of the public authorities law, as added
by chapter 517 of the laws of 1986 by adding a new subdivision (ii) that
states that a residential consumer or small business who has a contract
for service with the authority or its service provider shall be entitled
to a discount when services are not provided for a period of at least 48
hours after the end of a failure of equipment, weather event, natural
disaster, or any other disruption in providing service. The Board shall
promulgate rules and regulations within 180 days to calculate how a
utility shall reimburse the impacted party.
Section 3 sets the effective date.
 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
N/A
 
JUSTIFICATION:
When a consumer does not receive services they depend on, they are
understandably frustrated as they wait for those services to be fixed
and they are unable to make use of these services. As can be expected,
the longer the delay the greater the anger and frustration a consumer
will feel. Hopefully upon service restoration they find themselves
de-escalating and again enjoying the services they have contracted for.
However, imagine their feelings when they open their service bill and
see that they are being charged for services that they were unable to
access, this is unconscionable.
This legislation seeks to address this concern, by giving that individ-
ual a discount on their bill based on the amount of time contracted
services were not available to them.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019-20: A11020-Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
2021-22: A3044-Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S7567: 1020-f public authorities law