BILL NUMBER: S8907
SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public service law and the public authorities law,
in relation to certain corporations and the Long Island power authori-
ty's failure to achieve annual customer service performance targets
 
PURPOSE:
This bill would create a uniform penalty-to-credit requirement across
electric, gas, combo utilities, regulated water companies, and
LIPA/PSEG. It does not reinvent how NRA's work, much to its benefit. It
directs what to do with the money and establishes how fast it goes out.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Adds a new section 25-b to the Public Service Law, requiring gas corpo-
rations, electric corporations, and combination gas and electric corpo-
rations to return customer service performance penalties or negative
revenue adjustments to ratepayers as direct bill credits as soon as
practicable.
Requires annual reporting by the Public Service Commission to the Gover-
nor and Legislature detailing: the time elapsed between penalty assess-
ment and customer refunds, and how bill relief is distributed by service
class.
Amends the definition of "combination gas and electric corporation" to
apply to the new section; Adds a new section 1020-aaa to the Public
Authorities Law, applying the same requirements to applicable public
authorities, including reporting to state and relevant county officials;
and amends section 89-c of the Public Service Law to apply similar
requirements to water-works corporations.
Includes a severability clause and establishes an effective date 120
days after enactment, with authorization for advance rulemaking.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Utilities are routinely subject to customer service standards as part of
their approved rate plans. When utilities fail to meet these standards,
financial penalties or negative revenue adjustments are imposed to hold
them accountable. However, under current practice, these penalties are
not always returned directly to the customers who experienced poor
service, nor are they consistently refunded in a timely or transparent
manner.
This bill ensures that ratepayers who ultimately bear the cost of utili-
ty service receive the direct benefit of penalties assessed for service
failures. Requiring automatic bill credits improves accountability,
strengthens consumer protections, and reinforces the purpose of customer
service performance metrics.
Additionally, the bill promotes transparency by mandating annual report-
ing on how quickly refunds are delivered and how relief is allocated
across service classes. This information will allow policymakers and
regulators to better evaluate utility performance and enforcement effec-
tiveness.
In 2024, approximately $28.9 million was collected because utility
companies had failed to meet their customer service performance meas-
ures. This new requirement is necessary for transparency and tracking
purposes to ensure and monitor the total amount of penalties going back
to customers, and the rate relief aspect of this report is important for
the public to find in one specific and clear location.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State. The bill does not impose new penalties or costs, but
instead directs the disposition of existing penalties already assessed
under approved rate plans.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
becomes law.

Statutes affected:
S8907: 2 public service law, 2(14) public service law, 89-c public service law