Bill Text: NJ A312 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits public utility from terminating service for nonpayment unless customer is provided certified letter at least 10 business days prior to scheduled termination date.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-20 - Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading [A312 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A312-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOE DANIELSEN
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
Assemblyman RAJ MUKHERJI
District 33 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman CAROL A. MURPHY
District 7 (Burlington)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Verrelli, Assemblywomen McKnight, Mosquera and Downey
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits public utility from terminating service for nonpayment unless customer is provided certified letter at least 10 business days prior to scheduled termination date.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning termination of public utility service and amending R.S.48:2-24.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.48:2-24 is amended to read as follows:
48:2-24. a. No public utility shall discontinue, curtail, or abandon any service without obtaining permission from the board after notice. The board may withhold permission until after hearing to determine if the discontinuance, curtailment, or abandonment will adversely affect public convenience and necessity. With respect to common carriers, the provisions of this [paragraph] subsection shall apply only to service operated in accordance with base schedules on file with the board; provided, however, that the [State Highway] Commissioner of Transportation upon entering into a contract for passenger service pursuant to [chapter 66 of the laws of 1960, as amended and supplemented,] P.L.1962, c.191 (C.48:12A-17 et seq.) may, without approval of the board, authorize a discontinuance, curtailment, abandonment, or change in passenger service, which discontinuance, curtailment, abandonment, or change in service shall exist only during the term of [said] the contract.
b. (1) A public utility may terminate service for a violation of the terms of its approved tariffs on file with the [Board of Public Utility Commissioners] board upon giving the customer at least 3 days' notice of [such] the termination unless otherwise provided for by rules, regulations, or orders of the board, except that in those situations where a hazardous condition prevails the public utility may terminate service without notice.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection, a public utility shall not terminate the service of a customer for nonpayment unless the public utility provides the customer a certified letter no less than 10 business days prior to the scheduled termination date notifying the customer that the customer's service will be terminated for nonpayment on the scheduled termination date.
c. If any public utility shall discontinue, curtail, or abandon service, and the board after hearing upon notice shall find and determine that service should be resumed, the board may order that service be resumed forthwith or on [such] a date as it may fix.
(cf: P.L.1964, c.58, s.1)
2. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill amends current law to provide that a public utility is not to terminate a customer's utility service for nonpayment unless the public utility provides the customer a certified letter no less than 10 business days prior to the scheduled termination date notifying the customer that the customer's utility service will be terminated for nonpayment on the scheduled termination date.
