N.Y. PBS Law § 42 — New York Code / Act PBS / Article 2 / Section 42
Other charges
Status: in_force

§ 42. Other charges. 1. A utility corporation or municipality may\nimpose late payment charges not in excess of one and one-half percent\nper month on the unpaid balance of any bill including any interest\nthereon. Any such late payment charge, however, may not be imposed if\nthe bill is the subject of a pending complaint with the utility or\nmunicipality provided, however, that such charge may be imposed\nretroactively if the complaint is finally resolved in favor of the\nutility or municipality.\n  2. Except as provided in subdivision one of this section, no utility\ncorporation or municipality may charge any residential customer a late\npayment charge, penalty, fee, interest, or other charge of any kind for\nany late payment, collection effort, service disconnection or deferred\npayment agreement occasioned by the customer's failure to pay timely for\ngas or electric service.\n  3. The rights and responsibilities of residential customers\nparticipating in green jobs-green New York on-bill recovery pursuant to\nsection sixty-six-m of this chapter shall be substantially comparable to\nthose of electric and gas customers not participating in on-bill\nrecovery, and charges for on-bill recovery shall be treated as charges\nfor utility service for the purpose of this article, provided that:\n  (a) all determinations and safeguards related to the termination and\nreconnection of service shall apply to on-bill recovery charges billed\nby a utility pursuant to such section;\n  (b) in the event that the responsibility for making utility payments\nhas been assumed by occupants of a multiple dwelling pursuant to section\nthirty-three of this article or by occupants of a two-family dwelling\npursuant to section thirty-four of this article, such occupants shall\nnot be billed for any arrears of on-bill recovery charges or any\nprospective on-bill recovery charges, which shall remain the\nresponsibility of the incurring customer;\n  (c) deferred payment agreements pursuant to section thirty-seven of\nthis article shall be available to customers participating in on-bill\nrecovery on the same terms as other customers, and the utility shall\nretain the same discretion to defer termination of service as for any\nother delinquent customer;\n  (d) where a customer has a budget billing plan or levelized payment\nplan pursuant to section thirty-eight of this article, the utility shall\nrecalculate the payments under such plan to reflect the projected\neffects of installing energy efficiency measures as soon as practicable\nafter receipt of information on the energy audit and qualified energy\nefficiency services selected;\n  (e) on-bill recovery charges shall not be subject to the provisions of\nsection forty-one of this article;\n  (f) late payment charges on unpaid on-bill recovery charges shall be\ndetermined as provided in this section, or as otherwise consented to by\nthe customer in the agreement for green jobs-green New York on-bill\nrecovery and any such charges shall be remitted to the New York state\nenergy research and development authority;\n  (g) notwithstanding the provisions of section forty-three of this\narticle, when a complaint is related solely to work performed under the\ngreen jobs-green New York program or to the appropriate amount of\non-bill recovery charges, the utility shall only be required to inform\nthe customer of the complaint handling procedures of the New York state\nenergy research and development authority, which shall retain\nresponsibility for handling such complaints, and such complaints shall\nnot be deemed to be complaints about utility service in any other\ncommission action or proceeding; and\n  (h) billing information provided pursuant to section forty-four of\nthis article shall include information on green jobs-green New York\non-bill recovery charges, including the basis for such charges, and any\ninformation or inserts provided by the New York state energy research\nand development authority related thereto. In addition, at least\nannually the authority shall provide the utility with information for\ninclusion or insertion in the customer's bill that sets forth the amount\nand duration of remaining on-bill recovery charges and the authority's\ncontact information and procedures for resolving customer complaints\nwith such charges.\n