2023 New York Laws › PBS - Public Service › Article 4-A - Provisions Relating to Steam Corporations; Regulating Price of Steam. › 79 - Adequate Service; Just and Reasonable Charges; Unjust Discrimination and Unreasonable Preference.

§ 79. Adequate   service;   just   and   reasonable   charges;  unjust
discrimination and unreasonable preference. 1. Every  steam  corporation
shall furnish and provide such service, instrumentalities and facilities
as  shall  be safe and adequate and in all respects just and reasonable.
All charges made or demanded by any such corporation  for  such  service
rendered  or  to  be  rendered shall be just and reasonable and not more
than allowed by order of the commission.  Every unjust  or  unreasonable
charge  made or demanded for such service, or in connection therewith or
in excess of that allowed by law or by the commission is prohibited.
2. No such corporation shall directly or  indirectly  by  any  special
rate,  rebate,  drawback  or  other  device  or  method, charge, demand,
collect or receive from any person or  corporation  a  greater  or  less
compensation  for  such  service  rendered  or  to  be  rendered  or  in
connection therewith, except as authorized  in  this  chapter,  than  it
charges,  demands,  collects  or  receives  from  any  other  person  or
corporation for doing a like and contemporaneous  service  with  respect
thereto  under  the  same  or  substantially  similar  circumstances  or
conditions.
3. No such corporation shall make or grant any undue  or  unreasonable
preference  or  advantage  to any person, corporation or locality, or to
any particular description of service  in  any  respect  whatsoever,  or
subject any particular person, corporation or locality or any particular
description  of  service  to  any  undue  or  unreasonable  prejudice or
disadvantage in any respect whatsoever.
4. Nothing in this  chapter  shall  be  taken  to  prohibit  any  such
corporation from establishing a sliding scale for a fixed period for the
automatic adjustment of charges for such service or any service rendered
or  to  be rendered and the dividends to be paid to stockholders of such
corporation, provided that the sliding scale shall first have been filed
with and approved by the commission; but  nothing  in  this  subdivision
shall  operate  to  prevent  the commission after the expiration of such
fixed period from fixing proper, just and reasonable rates  and  charges
to be made for services as authorized in this article.
5. (a) Every steam corporation furnishing service may initiate a civil
action  to  collect  a  civil  penalty against a user of non-residential
service in accordance with this subdivision.  Upon  a  showing  in  such
action  that a user of non-residential service has knowingly accepted or
received the use and benefit of such service which  has  been  prevented
from  being  properly  registered  by  a  meter  provided  therefor, the
corporation may be granted a civil penalty, in addition to the value  of
the unpaid service, in an amount which the court in its discretion shall
deem  to  be  just  and reasonable, which in no event shall be more than
three times the retail value of the steam service accepted or  received.
In  any  action  under  this  subdivision,  proof  that a meter has been
intentionally prevented from properly registering steam service shall be
prima facie proof that the user of non-residential service  who  accepts
or  receives  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  service has done so with
knowledge of the condition so existing, if the steam  corporation  shall
first   present  evidence  that  such  person  took  possession  of  the
benefitted premises and used the service prior to the  creation  of  the
condition.
(b)  For  the  purposes of this subdivision, a user of non-residential
service shall be a person  benefitting  from  such  service  who  is  in
possession of the premises to which the service is delivered.
(c)  Any civil penalty recovered pursuant to this section in excess of
the actual damages sustained by the  corporation  shall  be  taken  into
account  by  the  public service commission in establishing future steam
rates.