Assembly Bill A10171

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Enacts the utility shutoff protection act

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.
Actions

2023-A10171 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Assembly Corporations, Authorities And Commissions
Law Section:
Public Service Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§2, 32, 33 & 34, Pub Serv L

2023-A10171 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Protects residential customers from utility service shutoffs due to non-payment during summer and winter periods of extreme heat or cold; allows such utility services to be discontinued for non-payment outside such periods; requires an annual report to be submitted to the governor and legislature and posted publicly online.

2023-A10171 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10171
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               May 10, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Mamdani) --
   read once and referred to the Committee on  Corporations,  Authorities
   and Commissions
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  public service law, in relation to enacting the
   "utility shutoff protection act"
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1.  This  act shall be known and may be cited as the "utility
 shutoff protection act".
   § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares that:
   1. It is the duty of the legislature to ensure that New York residents
 are protected from utility disconnections for nonpayment during  periods
 of  extreme heat or cold, when they would be relying on air conditioning
 or heating the most.
   2. New York's utility shutoff moratorium during the COVID-19  pandemic
 provided crucial relief for millions of households, enabling zero utili-
 ty  shutoffs  in  2021, but the expiration of this COVID-19 moratorium -
 absent any accompanying legislation to curb  utility  companies'  record
 high  gas and electricity rates - has left New York residents at risk of
 having their power cut off for nonpayment. According to NY Department of
 Public Service (DPS) data, more than 180,000 New York households experi-
 enced gas or electricity shutoffs for nonpayment in 2023.
   3. This act serves as an expansion  of  existing  residential  utility
 protections  in New York state. Residential service cannot be terminated
 for nonpayment Friday through Sunday, on public holidays, the day before
 a holiday, or on a day before the utility business office is closed. New
 York also bans utility shutoffs during the two-week period that includes
 Christmas and New Year's Day. Altogether, state law  protects  residents
 from  utility  shutoffs  between  170 and 180 calendar days, or about 50
 percent of the year.
   4. This legislation provides much-needed coherence and  predictability
 to  the  presently  scattered  landscape  of private residential shutoff
 policies. Every utility  regulated  by  the  Public  Service  Commission
 (hereinafter,  "the  commission")  already  follows certain seasonal and
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.