Con Edison Now Providing Same Day Reconnection of Service to Electric Customers Shut Off for Bill Collection Purposes
Under the Home Energy Fair Practices Act (HEFPA), Article 2 of the New York Public Service Law, customers who have been shut off for nonpayment of bills are entitled to prompt service restoration when they pay or make arrangements to pay the arrears. Under Section 35.2 of the Public Service Law, the utility is allowed up to 24 hours to reconnect service, after payment is arranged, and if it takes longer customers become entitled to $25 – $50 a day for each day service is not supplied after day one:
“Where any utility corporation or municipality is required to reconnect service within twenty-four hours and fails or neglects to do so without good cause as determined by the commission, it shall forfeit and pay to the customer the sum of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than fifty dollars per day for each day thereafter, as determined by the commission, that such service is not supplied.”
This was designed to place a monetary incentive on the utility to reinstate service within a day. Inflation over the years since 1981, when HEFPA was enacted and the amount of the penalty was set, lessened the consequences of a $25 – $50 per day cost, even if the PSC were inclined to enforce it regularly. Existence of this penalty provision, one of the rare ones in the statute, does underscore the importance placed by the Legislature on continuous service. The prompt reconnection provision furthers the legislative finding in Section 30 of the Public Service Law that continued service is in the public interest and furthers public health and welfare by reducing the risk to households and the community that less safe alternatives will be used. See Candle Fires: A Symptom of “Rolling Blackouts” Affecting Low Income Households,
Advances in communications and utility field service since 1981 now make it possible to achieve same day reconnection of service in most instances at relatively small extra cost. In its recently concluded rate case settlement, Con Edison agreed to provide same day service reconnection to electric customers whose service is shut off for bill collection purposes, when customers pay or make satisfactory arrangements to pay arrears before 5 PM. This does not include situations where the meter is removed or service is cut at the curb.
Payment arrangements of less than full payment may include deferred payment agreements or commitments from social services officials to provide partial payment of arrears up to the most recent four months’ bills under New York Social Services Law 131-s.
In a recent compliance filing with the PSC, Con Edison reported that in the first three months of 2014, 4239 of 4256 service reconnection orders — 99.6% — issued by 5 PM were implemented on the same day. Con Edison shuts off approximately 80,000 customers a year, the overwhelming majority of whom have service restored after a hiatus without power while they scramble to obtain funds or assistance to meet the amount necessary to resume service.
The new same day reconnection policy means that many low-income customers whose service is shut off and who make arrangements to reinstate it do not have to go another night without safe electric service.
Given the reality of large number of disconnections for collection purposes, this a welcome development.
Gerald A. Norlander