Senate Bill S8907

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to the failure of certain utilities and the Long Island power authority to achieve annual customer service performance targets

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Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Energy And Telecommunications 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

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 14, 2026	referred to energy and telecommunications

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10423
Current Committee:: Senate Energy And Telecommunications
Law Section:: Public Service Law
Laws Affected:: Add §25-b, amd §§2 & 89-c, Pub Serv L; amd Art 5 Title 1-A §1020-aaa, Pub Auth L

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Enacts the "utility penalty and customer bill relief act"; requires every gas corporation, electric corporation, combination gas and electric corporation, water-works corporation and the Long Island power authority which fails to achieve annual customer service performance targets in a particular year, which are subject to financial penalties or negative revenue adjustments to return such penalties or adjustments to rate payers as a direct bill credit.

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
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.

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8907
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 14, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on  Energy  and  Telecommuni-
   cations
 
 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

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "utility penalty and customer bill relief act".
   § 2. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 25-b to
 read as follows:
   §  25-B.  FAILURE  TO  ACHIEVE  ANNUAL  CUSTOMER  SERVICE  PERFORMANCE
 TARGETS.    1. ANY GAS CORPORATION, ELECTRIC CORPORATION AND COMBINATION
 GAS AND ELECTRIC CORPORATIONS THAT FAIL TO ACHIEVE THEIR ANNUAL CUSTOMER
 SERVICE PERFORMANCE TARGETS IN ANY PARTICULAR YEAR, WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO
 FINANCIAL PENALTIES OR NEGATIVE REVENUE ADJUSTMENTS  AS  ESTABLISHED  IN
 SUCH  CORPORATION'S RATE PLAN, SHALL BE RETURNED TO RATE PAYERS BY MEANS
 OF DIRECT BILL CREDIT AS SOON AS PRACTICALLY FEASIBLE.  EVERY GAS CORPO-
 RATION, ELECTRIC CORPORATION OR COMBINATION GAS AND ELECTRIC CORPORATION
 SHALL PROVIDE ANY RELEVANT INFORMATION PERTAINING TO  SUCH  DIRECT  BILL
 CREDIT TO THE COMMISSION.
   2.  THE  COMMISSION  SHALL  SUBMIT ANNUALLY TO THE GOVERNOR, THE STATE
 COMPTROLLER, THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, AND THE  SPEAKER  OF
 THE  ASSEMBLY,  A  DETAILED REPORT INDICATING HOW LONG IT TAKES FROM THE
 ASSESSMENT OF THE PENALTIES OR NEGATIVE REVENUE ADJUSTMENTS FOR THE  GAS
 CORPORATION, ELECTRIC CORPORATION OR COMBINATION GAS AND ELECTRIC CORPO-
 RATION TO RETURN SUCH FUNDS TO RATE PAYERS, AS WELL AS HOW MUCH THE RATE
 PAYER RELIEF IS BASED ON SERVICE CLASS.
   §  3.  Subdivision 14 of section 2 of the public service law, as added
 by section 1 of part X of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, is amended  to
 read as follows:
   14.  The term "combination gas and electric corporation," when used in
 sections twenty-five-a, TWENTY-FIVE-B, sixty-five and sixty-six of  this
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD14009-02-6
 S. 8907                             2
 
 chapter, includes any gas corporation operating in New York under common
 ownership  with  an  electric  corporation  operating in New York or any
 electric corporation operating in New York under common ownership with a
 gas  corporation  operating in New York, or any successor of either such
 corporation; provided, however, that such term shall not include munici-
 pally-owned utilities, and shall not include any  generating  facilities
 owned  or operated by either such corporation or any common owner there-
 of, or any subsidiary of such common owner.
   § 4. Title 1-A of article 5 of the public authorities law as added  by
 chapter  517  of  the  laws  of 1986, is amended by adding a new section
 1020-aaa to read as follows:
   § 1020-AAA. FAILURE TO ACHIEVE  ANNUAL  CUSTOMER  SERVICE  PERFORMANCE
 TARGETS.  1.  IF  THE AUTHORITY FAILS TO ACHIEVE ANNUAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
 PERFORMANCE TARGETS IN ANY PARTICULAR YEAR, WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO  FINAN-
 CIAL  PENALTIES  OR  NEGATIVE REVENUE ADJUSTMENTS AS ESTABLISHED IN SUCH
 AUTHORITY'S RATE PLAN, SUCH FUNDS SHALL BE RETURNED TO  RATE  PAYERS  BY
 MEANS OF DIRECT BILL CREDIT AS SOON AS PRACTICALLY FEASIBLE.
   2.  THE  AUTHORITY  SHALL  SUBMIT  ANNUALLY TO THE GOVERNOR, THE STATE
 COMPTROLLER, THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, THE SPEAKER  OF  THE
 ASSEMBLY  AND THE COUNTY EXECUTIVES AND GOVERNING BODIES OF THE COUNTIES
 OF SUFFOLK AND NASSAU, A DETAILED REPORT INDICATING HOW  LONG  IT  TAKES
 FROM  THE  ASSESSMENT  OF  THE PENALTIES OR NEGATIVE REVENUE ADJUSTMENTS
 FOR THE AUTHORITY TO RETURN SUCH FUNDS TO RATE PAYERS, AS  WELL  AS  HOW
 MUCH THE RATE PAYER RELIEF IS BASED ON SERVICE CLASS.
   § 5. Section 89-c of the public service law is amended by adding a new
 subdivision 18 to read as follows:
   18. (A) IF ANY WATER-WORKS CORPORATION FAILS TO ACHIEVE ANNUAL CUSTOM-
 ER SERVICE PERFORMANCE TARGETS IN ANY PARTICULAR YEAR, WHICH ARE SUBJECT
 TO FINANCIAL PENALTIES OR NEGATIVE REVENUE ADJUSTMENTS AS ESTABLISHED IN
 SUCH WATER-WORK'S RATE PLAN, SUCH FUNDS SHALL BE RETURNED TO RATE PAYERS
 BY  MEANS  OF  DIRECT  BILL CREDIT AS SOON AS PRACTICALLY FEASIBLE. SUCH
 WATER-WORKS CORPORATION SHALL PROVIDE ANY RELEVANT INFORMATION  PERTAIN-
 ING TO SUCH DIRECT BILL CREDIT TO THE COMMISSION.
   (B)  THE  COMMISSION  SHALL SUBMIT ANNUALLY TO THE GOVERNOR, THE STATE
 COMPTROLLER, THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, AND THE  SPEAKER  OF
 THE  ASSEMBLY,  A  DETAILED REPORT INDICATING HOW LONG IT TAKES FROM THE
 ASSESSMENT OF THE PENALTIES OR  NEGATIVE  REVENUE  ADJUSTMENTS  FOR  THE
 WATER-WORKS  CORPORATION TO RETURN SUCH FUNDS TO RATE PAYERS, AS WELL AS
 HOW MUCH THE RATE PAYER RELIEF IS BASED ON SERVICE CLASS.
   § 6. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part
 of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction  to
 be  invalid  and  after  exhaustion  of all further judicial review, the
 judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the  remainder  thereof,
 but  shall  be  confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, para-
 graph, section or part of this act directly involved in the  controversy
 in which the judgment shall have been rendered.
   § 7. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
 it  shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
 completed on or before such effective date.

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Senate Bill S8907

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Energy And Telecommunications Committee

Actions

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

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Sponsored By

Leroy Comrie

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Energy And Telecommunications Committee

Actions

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S8907 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments