| By Mr. Shannon, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1829) of Charles E. Shannon, David P. Linsky, Susan C. Fargo, J. James Marzilli and other members of the General Court for legislation to protect consumers from utility shut-offs. Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 164 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking section 124G in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following:--
Section 124G. Restoration of service upon payment.
No gas or electric company shall fail to restore gas or electric service in any residence if the customer makes efforts to pay an outstanding unpaid balance or attempts to enter a payment plan for the customer’s unpaid balance. The department shall promulgate such rules and regulations consistent with this section as it deems reasonable and necessary to carry out the provisions of this section and to standardize the procedures for placing customers on payment plans and for restoring service after it has been turned off. The rules and regulations promulgated shall include a requirement that gas and electric companies provide notice on payment plans to their customers in non-English languages when necessary and shall provide guidance on the minimum amounts which can be paid by a customer to restore service after a shut off. The rules and regulations shall also define the term “financial hardship” as it is to be used by utility companies. The department may establish gradations in terms of the amount of arrears that are to be paid by a customer that has fallen behind in the payment of their bill and entered into a payment plan more than once.
SECTION 2. Chapter 166 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 42B the following section:--
Section 42C. (a) For purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:
“Customer”, a person who resides in the commonwealth and subscribes to local or long distance telephone services.
“Department”, the department of telecommunications and energy.
“Residential premises”, a residential place of abode of a customer.
“Telephone company”, any firm, corporation or partnership that provides local or long distance telephone service and that installs, maintains, charges and bills for such services by directly submitting a bill to a customer of the services with the expectation of payment.
“Telephone service”, conventional wire telephone service.
(b) To the extent permitted by federal law, a telephone company shall not shut off or fail to restore telephone service in any residential premise during such time as the customer makes efforts to pay an outstanding unpaid balance or the customer attempts to enter a payment plan for an unpaid balance. The department may promulgate such rules and regulations consistent with this section as it deems reasonable and necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. The rules and regulations promulgated shall include a requirement that telephone companies provide notice on payment plans to their customers in non-English languages.