Bill Text: NJ A4570 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits electric public utilities from discontinuing service or failing to restore service to residential customer if customer has medical need for uninterrupted electric service.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-10-15 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee [A4570 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A4570-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman YVONNE LOPEZ
District 19 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits electric public utilities from discontinuing service or failing to restore service to residential customer if customer has medical need for uninterrupted electric service.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain public utility service discontinuances and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Board" means the Board of Public Utilities or any successor agency.
"Electric public utility" or "utility" means a public utility, as that term is defined in R.S.48:2-13, that provides electric distribution service.
"Emergency" means any condition constituting a clear and present danger to life, health, or property requiring a public utility to immediately discontinue or interrupt service or provide an unscheduled discontinuance or interruption in service caused by a sudden natural or man-made disaster or related event.
"Medical customer" means a residential utility customer of record who affirmatively responds to a request for information pursuant to subsection a. of section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
2. a. An electric public utility shall request from every residential customer, on a semi-annual basis, information, determined by the board, as to whether the residential customer, or any person living at the residential customer's address, has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety as a result of an electric service discontinuance or failure to restore electric service at the residential customer's premises. An electric public utility shall publish the required request for information at a prominent location on the homepage of the utility's Internet website. If a residential customer responds to the utility's request for information indicating the residential customer or a person living at the residential customer's address has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety due to an electric service discontinuance or failure to restore electric service, the utility shall designate that residential customer as a medical customer.
b. Except when a utility experiences an emergency, a utility shall not discontinue or fail to restore electric service to a medical customer for utility bill nonpayment if a medical customer has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety due to an electric service discontinuance or failure to restore electric service. A utility shall require the medical customer to:
(1) provide reasonable proof of an inability to pay a utility bill on or before the bill's due date; and
(2) semi-annually submit a written statement from a physician to the utility, stating:
(a) the medical customer has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety due to an electric service discontinuance or failure to restore electric service; and
(b) the nature of the condition of the medical customer and its probable duration, only if the disclosure of the information is not otherwise prohibited by law.
3. A medical customer who does not pay in full a utility bill on or before the date the bill is due shall be liable for any bill payment balance for service rendered by the utility.
4. This act shall take effect immediately, but shall remain inoperative for 60 days following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires an electric public utility (utility) to request from every residential customer, on a semi-annual basis, information determined by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU), as to whether the residential customer, or any person living at the customer's residence, has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety as a result of an electric service (service) discontinuance or failure to restore service at the residential customer's premises. A utility is to publish the required request for information at a prominent location on the homepage of the utility's Internet website. If a residential customer responds to the utility's request for information indicating the residential customer or a person living at the residential customer's address has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety due to a service discontinuance or failure to restore service, the utility is to designate that residential customer as a "medical customer."
The bill requires that, except when a utility experiences an "emergency," as that term is defined in the bill, a utility is prohibited from discontinuing service to a medical customer for utility bill nonpayment if the medical customer has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety due to a service discontinuance or failure to restore service. A utility is to require the medical customer to: (1) provide reasonable proof of an inability to pay a utility bill on or before the bill's due date; and (2) semi-annually submit a written statement from a physician to the utility, stating the medical customer has a medical need for uninterrupted electric service and will suffer a serious impairment to their health or safety due to a service discontinuance or failure to restore service at the customer's premises, and the nature of the condition of the medical customer and its probable duration only if the disclosure of the information is not otherwise prohibited by law.
The bill provides that a medical customer who does not pay in full a utility bill on or before the date the bill is due is liable for any bill payment balance for service rendered by the utility.
