NY Pub Serv L § 18-A (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBS - Public Service Article 1 - The Department of Public Service 18-A - Costs and Expenses of the Commission and Department and the Assessment of Such Costs and Expenses.

§ 18-a. Costs  and  expenses  of the commission and department and the assessment of such costs and expenses. 1. All costs and expenses of  the department and commission shall be paid pursuant to appropriation on the certification  of  the chairman of the department and upon the audit and warrant of the comptroller.  The  state  treasury  shall  be  reimbursed therefore  by  payments  to  be  made  thereto from all moneys collected pursuant to this chapter. The total of such costs and expenses shall  be borne  by  the  public  utility companies (including for the purposes of this section municipalities other  than  municipalities  as  defined  in section  eighty-nine-l  of  this  chapter),  corporations (including the power authority of the state of New York), and persons  subject  to  the commission's  regulation,  to  be  assessed  in  the  manner provided in subdivisions two, three and four of this section and section two hundred seventeen of this chapter.   1-a.  All  costs  and  expenses  of  the  department  related  to  the department's  responsibilities  under  section  three-b  of this chapter shall be paid pursuant to appropriation  on  the  certification  of  the chairman  of  the  department  and  upon  the  audit  and warrant of the comptroller. For the state fiscal year beginning  on  April  first,  two thousand fourteen and each state fiscal year thereafter, payments are to be  made  from all moneys collected from the Long Island power authority pursuant to this section. The total of such costs and expenses shall  be assessed  on  such authority in the manner provided in subdivisions two, three and four of this section.   2. (a) The chairman of the department  shall  estimate  prior  to  the start  of each state fiscal year the total costs and expenses, including the compensation and expenses of  the  commission  and  the  department, their  officers,  agents  and  employees,  and  including  the  cost  of retirement contributions, social security, health and dental  insurance, survivor's  benefits,  workers' compensation, unemployment insurance and other fringe benefits required to be paid by the state for the personnel of the commission and the department, and including all other  items  of maintenance  and  operation  expenses, and all other direct and indirect costs. Based on such estimates, the chairman shall determine the  amount to  be  paid by each assessed public utility company and the Long Island power authority and a bill shall be rendered to each such public utility company and authority.  (b) The bill for each public utility company and the Long Island power authority shall be rendered on or before February first  preceding  each fiscal  year,  and  shall  be for the amount equal to the product of the aforesaid estimated costs and expenses of  conducting  the  department's and  commission's  total  operations  during  the  fiscal year for which billing is being made multiplied by the proportion which compares:  (1) the gross operating revenues, over and above five hundred thousand dollars,  for  that  utility  company  or  the  authority  derived  from intrastate  utility  operations  in the last preceding calendar year, or other twelve month period as determined by the chairman, to:  (2) the total of the gross operating revenues, derived from intrastate utility operations for all utility companies and the  authority  in  the state  which  revenues  are  included  under  subparagraph  one  of this paragraph.   For the purposes of calculating the commodity cost  component  of  its gross operating revenue, where the utility delivers to end-use customers electricity  and/or  natural  gas  commodities  that  are  sold  to such customers by a third party, such utility shall include in  its  revenues an  estimate  of  the  sales revenue for the electric and/or natural gas commodities that it delivers, including all  such  commodities  sold  to end-use customers by third parties, in such manner as to assure that all  end-use  delivery  customers,  regardless  of the entity from which they purchase their electric and/or natural gas commodities, bear a fair  and proportionate  share of the assessment imposed herein, as the commission may determine.  (c)  The  minimum  assessment  for any utility company, as well as the Long Island  power  authority,  whose  gross  revenues  from  intrastate utility operations are in excess of five hundred thousand dollars in the preceding calendar year shall be two hundred dollars.  (d)  The  amount  of  such bill for fiscal years beginning on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-three so rendered shall be paid  by such  public  utility company and such authority to the department on or before April first; provided, however, that any such utility company  or such  authority  may  elect  to make partial payments for such costs and expenses on March tenth of the preceding fiscal year  and  on  September tenth  of  such  fiscal  year.  Each such partial payment shall be a sum equal to fifty percentum of the estimate of costs  and  expenses  to  be assessed  against such utility company or authority under the provisions of this subdivision and shall not be less than two hundred dollars.  (e) During the course of any  state  fiscal  year,  the  chairman  may increase  or  decrease the estimate of costs and expenses. In such case, revised bills shall be sent to each  public  utility  company  and  such authority,  and  such  increase or decrease shall be equally apportioned against the remaining payments for such fiscal year.  (f) On or before October  tenth  of  each  year,  the  chairman  shall compute  the  actual  costs  and  expenses  of  the  department  and the commission and adjustments  or  other  corrections  as  needed  for  the preceding  state  fiscal year and, after deducting the amounts recovered pursuant to subdivisions three and four of this section,  shall,  on  or before October twentieth, send to each public utility company and/or the authority  affected thereby a statement setting forth the amount due and payable by, or the amount standing to the credit of, such public utility company and/or the authority. Any amount owing  by  any  public  utility company  and/or  the  authority shall be paid not later than thirty days following the date such statement is received. Any such amount  standing to  the  credit  of  any public utility company shall be refunded by the commission or, at the option of such utility company, shall  be  applied as a credit against any succeeding payment due.  (g)  The  total  amount  which  may  be  charged to any public utility company and the Long Island power  authority  under  authority  of  this subdivision for any state fiscal year shall not exceed one per centum of such  public  utility  company's or authority's gross operating revenues derived  from  intrastate  utility  operations  in  the  last  preceding calendar  year,  or  other  twelve  month  period  as  determined by the chairman; provided, however, that  no  corporation  or  person  that  is subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  commission only with respect to safety, or the power authority of  the  state  of  New  York,  shall  be subject to the general assessment provided for under this subdivision.   Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this section, for telephone  corporations  as  defined in subdivision seventeen of section two of this  article,  the  total  amount  which  may  be  charged  such corporations  for department expenses under the authority of subdivision one of this section for any state fiscal year shall not exceed one-third of one percentum of such corporation's gross operating revenue, over and above five hundred thousand dollars,  derived  from  intrastate  utility operations  in  the  last preceding calendar year, or other twelve month period as determined by the chairman.  (h) On-bill recovery charges billed pursuant to section sixty-six-m of this chapter shall be excluded from any  determination  of  an  entity's  gross  operating revenues derived from intrastate utility operations for purposes of this section.   3.  In the case of corporations or persons subject to the jurisdiction of the commission only with respect  to  safety,  the  chairman  of  the department  shall ascertain from time to time, but not less than once in each fiscal year, all direct and indirect costs of investigating (a) the safety of the pipelines conveying gas at  pressures  in  excess  of  one hundred  twenty-five  pounds  per  square inch gauge or conveying liquid petroleum products of such corporations or persons and (b) the safety of any gas plant of corporations manufacturing  pipeline  quality  gas  and subject  to  the  safety jurisdiction of the commission by virtue of the proviso to exception (b) of subdivision eleven of section  two  of  this chapter.  The  chairman  shall  for each investigation assess such costs against such corporations or persons whose pipelines or plants have been investigated. Bills for such an investigation may be rendered from  time to  time  but  not less than once in each fiscal year, and the amount of such bills shall be paid by the appropriate corporation or person to the department within thirty days from the  date  of  rendition.  The  total amount  which  may be charged to any corporation or person for any state fiscal year as the cost of investigating the safety of  pipelines  shall not exceed one hundred dollars times the sum of the products obtained by multiplying  the  mileage  (to the nearest tenth) of each section of any such pipeline in the state in use at the end of the  preceding  calendar year  by  its nominal diameter in feet (to the nearest tenth). The total amount which may be charged to any pipeline  quality  gas  manufacturing company  for  any  state  fiscal  year as the costs of investigating the safety of the plant of such company shall not exceed  one-third  of  one per centum of the estimate of the average annual gross revenues from the sales  of  manufactured  gas  over  a  three-year period of operation or anticipated operation, as determined by the chairman, of  such  pipeline quality gas manufacturing company.   4.  In  the  case of the power authority of the state of New York, the chairman of the department shall ascertain from time to  time,  but  not less  than  once  in  each fiscal year, all direct and indirect costs of investigating requests by the power authority of the state of  New  York to  establish  new,  major utility transmission facilities as defined in article seven of this chapter or to establish new, major steam  electric generating  facilities  as defined in article eight of this chapter. The chairman shall for each such investigation assess such costs against the power  authority  of  the  state  of  New  York.  Bills  for   such   an investigation  may be rendered from time to time, but not less than once in each fiscal year, and the amount of such bills shall be paid  by  the power authority of the state of New York to the department within thirty days from the date of rendition.   4-a.  In  the  case  of research, development and demonstration of new energy  technologies,  the  director  of  the  budget  may  enter   into contracts,  subject  to the availability of appropriations, with the New York state energy research and development authority for  the  costs  of such  research, development and demonstration beyond such amounts as may be available to the New  York  state  energy  research  and  development authority  for  such purposes from bonds, grants or other sources. On or before February first preceding each fiscal year, the  chairman  of  the authority  shall estimate and transmit to the chairman of the department of public service the total costs of authority research, development and demonstration projected to be authorized by contracts with the  director of the budget for such fiscal year. The chairman of the department shall apportion  the  costs of such research, development and demonstration in accordance with  the  billing  procedures  of  this  section  among  gas  corporations and electric corporations as defined in section two of this chapter.   Such   apportionment  shall  be  excluded  from  the  general assessment provided for under subdivision two of this section. The total amount  which  may  be  charged  to  any  gas  corporation  and electric corporation for any state fiscal year shall be .6 cents per one thousand cubic feet for gas sold and .006 cents per kilowatt hour of  electricity sold  by  such  corporations  in their intrastate utility operations the last preceding calendar year.   4-b. In the case of research, development  and  demonstration  of  new energy   technologies,  the  director  of  the  budget  may  enter  into contracts, subject to the availability of appropriations, with  the  New York  state  energy  research and development authority for the costs of such research, development and demonstration beyond such amounts as  may be  available  to  the  New  York  state energy research and development authority for  such  purposes  from  bonds,  grants  or  other  sources, including  the  power authority of the state of New York. Not later than November first preceding each  fiscal  year,  the  energy  research  and development  authority  and the power authority of the state of New York shall agree as to a specific level of financial support to  be  provided by  the power authority of the state of New York for the energy research and   development   authority's   energy   research   development    and demonstration  activities  for such fiscal year. Such level of financial support shall be incorporated in the annual budget request submitted  by the  energy research and development authority and shall be reflected as an offset to recommended appropriations for  research,  development  and demonstration  of  new  energy technologies; provided, however, that the sum of such recommended appropriations and such offset shall not  exceed twelve  million  dollars.  One  hundred  per centum of the costs of such research, development  and  demonstration  not  supplemented  by  bonds, grants or other sources, not to exceed nine million six hundred thousand dollars,  shall be apportioned in accordance with the billing procedures of this section, provided, that such costs shall  be  apportioned  among gas  corporations and electric corporations as defined in section two of this chapter and shall be excluded from the general assessment  provided for under subdivision two of this section. The total amount which may be charged  to  any  gas corporation and electric corporation for any state fiscal year shall be .6 cents per one thousand cubic feet for  gas  sold and   .006   cents  per  kilowatt  hour  of  electricity  sold  by  such corporations in their intrastate utility operations the  last  preceding calendar year.   5.  On  demand  made  within  thirty days of the rendition of any bill pursuant to subdivision two, three or four of this section, the party so charged shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard as  to  the  amount thereof.  Any amounts of such bills not paid within thirty days from the date of determination upon such hearings, or, if none shall be demanded, on the date upon which such payment is due, shall  bear  interest  at  a rate  to  be prescribed by regulation of the commission. Such rate shall be not less than six percentum per annum  nor  more  than  the  rate  of interest prescribed by the superintendent of financial services pursuant to  the provisions of section fourteen-a of the banking law in effect on the day immediately preceeding the date on which the provisions of  this subdivision  as  amended become effective, but if the commission has not set such rate, interest at six percentum  per  annum  shall  apply.  Any interest rate set by the commission shall become effective not less than sixty days after such rate is promulgated.