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PULP E-Mail News
The Public Utility Law Project
Electronic Newsletter
August 7, 2009
Are Utilities Overreaching and Terminating Service to Collect Old Bills After Welfare Payments are Received?
This week PULP received several calls involving the attempts of utilities to terminate electric service after receiving partial payments of arrears from local departments of social services ("LDSS") under New York Social Services Law ("SSL") Section 131-s. The law requires LDSS officials to make a payment of up to four months' bills to eligible applicants to forestall termination of utility service or to restore service that has already been terminated, even if that amount is less than the total amount owed. Section 65-b of the New York Public Service Law, a companion provision to SSL Section 131-s, requires utilities to continue to supply or to restore service to persons who receive a SSL 131-s grant, even if there still "may be money due to the utility corporation or municipality for services previously furnished...." The calls to PULP reported that after receiving the four-month payments, the utilities sent bills demanding the entire balance of the past due bills and attempted to terminate service again. Inasmuch as the utilities are seeking to recover the same arrears that had been owed when the four-month DSS payment was made, we believe it is unlawful.
MORE -- http://pulpnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/08/are-utilities-overreaching-to-collect.html
Tenants Struggle to Maintain Utility Service in Owner-Abandoned Building in Foreclosure
PULP received a call on August 6th from a tenant in a multiple dwelling in Brooklyn. Electric and gas utility service had been included in tenants’ rent. The owner stopped paying utility bills and apparently abandoned the property, which is now in foreclosure proceedings. Tenants were notified by both National Grid and Con Edison of impending termination of utility service to the building for nonpayment by the owner. Under the Home Energy Fair Practices Act ("HEFPA"), tenants in multiple dwellings where the landlord’s service is being terminated for nonpayment can get the utility service continued by putting prospective service in their name (which PULP generally does not recommend). Alternatively, (and usually preferred) tenants may pay for current (not past due) charges on the owner’s account, which stays in the owner's name. New York State Public Service Commission (“PSC”) regulations spell out the details of the arrangements with the utilities, and provide for intervention and assistance of PSC staff to work out problems so that service can be continued when the landlord has defaulted in its obligations to the utilities. Tenants can then deduct their payments to the utility, which are credited to the landlord's account, from their rent. In the Brooklyn situation, tenants entered into an agreement with National Grid to pay current gas charges and to pay charges going forward, as is contemplated by the statute. However, apparently an individual tenant allowed Con Edison to put the owner’s entire electric bill in her own name, including the arrears.
MORE -- http://pulpnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/08/tenants-struggle-to-maintain-utility.html
PSC to Revisit Telecom Universal Service Policies
In a brief Notice Establishing Universal Service Proceeding issued August 3rd, the New York State Public Service Commission (“PSC”) indicated that it will be re-examining its universal service policies for telecommunications. This is a very long overdue and welcome move. The state universal service mechanisms (for high cost service in rural areas, state matching funds for the federal low income Lifeline assistance program, and other functions such as E-911 and TTY) have been funded through assessments paid by traditional landline phone companies. Over the years, however, many customers have migrated to other providers offering telephone service with other technologies, such as cable. These providers do not provide Lifeline assistance. Additionally, problems have arisen leading to a major decline in the provision of Lifeline assistance, with the result that many eligible customers are not receiving it. This decline has resulted in the assessment on New Yorkers of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal surcharges that are sent to the federal Universal Service Administrative Company for redistribution to benefit low income customers in other states while fewer and fewer of New York's growing low income population receive the benefits.
MORE -- http://pulpnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/08/psc-to-revisit-telecom-universal.html
Lifeline Awareness Week Coming in September; Will it Make a Difference?
The week of September 14th through the 20th will be "National Lifeline Awareness Week," coordinated by the FCC Federal/State Working Group on Lifeline and Link-Up (PULP is one of two consumer advocate members of this group), along with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. Whether the effort will help stem the tide of systematic neglect, which has limited effectiveness of the Lifeline Program in New York State, remains to be seen. According to materials being drafted for the special week, its purpose is to ensure that eligible low income households are aware of the Lifeline and Link-Up programs and to help them afford basic local telephone service in their homes through assistance from these programs. Proclamations from governors are expected, as are media campaigns sponsored by the state utility commissions, and possibly outreach efforts by the Lifeline telephone service providers. The New York State Public Service Commission (“PSC”) has taken a vocal, lead role in the Lifeline Awareness Week preparations. This is to its credit at the national level, but the PSC's past performance has been demonstrably ineffective. While PULP is wholeheartedly in favor of conducting a National Lifeline Awareness Week - and is the state’s most vocal Lifeline proponent - PULP has absolutely no expectation that the special week will increase the number of Lifeline customers. Rather, the focus on writing speeches for governors and individual signups unnecessarily suggests that the problem is with those eligible who need more exhortation, and it may divert attention and resources from actions which may actually improve Lifeline subscribership.
MORE -- http://pulpnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/08/lifeline-awareness-week-coming-in.html
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THE PUBLIC UTILITY LAW PROJECT OF NEW YORK, INC., IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION WHICH HAS REPRESENTED THE INTERESTS OF LOW INCOME UTILITY CONSUMERS SINCE 1981, ADVANCING UNIVERSAL SERVICE, AFFORDABILITY, AND CUSTOMER PROTECTION.
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