2023 New York Laws › PBS - Public Service › Article 1 - The Department of Public Service › 5 - Jurisdiction, Powers and Duties of Public Service Commission.

§ 5. Jurisdiction,  powers and duties of public service commission. 1.
  The jurisdiction, supervision, powers and duties of the  public  service
  commission shall extend under this chapter:
b. To the manufacture, conveying, transportation, sale or distribution
  of  gas (natural or manufactured or mixture of both) and electricity for
  light, heat or power, to gas plants and to electric plants  and  to  the
  persons or corporations owning, leasing or operating the same.
c.  To  the  manufacture, holding, distribution, transmission, sale or
  furnishing of steam for heat or  power,  to  steam  plants  and  to  the
  persons or corporations owning, leasing or operating the same.
d. To every telephone line which lies wholly within the state and that
  part  within  the  state  of New York of every telephone line which lies
  partly within and partly  without  the  state  and  to  the  persons  or
  corporations owning, leasing or operating any such telephone line.
e. To every telegraph line which lies wholly within the state and that
  part  within  the  state  of New York of every telegraph line which lies
  partly within and partly  without  the  state  and  to  the  persons  or
  corporations owning, leasing or operating any such telegraph line.
f. To the furnishing or distribution of water for domestic, commercial
  or  public  uses and to water systems and to the persons or corporations
  owning, leasing or operating the same.
g. To every stock yard within the state and to the stock yard  company
  owning, leasing or operating the same, to the same extent and in respect
  to  the  same  objects  and purposes as such jurisdiction extends, under
  this chapter, to depots, freight  houses  and  shipping  stations  of  a
  common  carrier, including the duty of such stock yard company to submit
  reports and be subjected  to  investigation  as  if  it  were  a  common
  carrier, and the powers and duties of such commission to fix charges and
  make and enforce orders relating to adequate service by such company.
h.  A  corporation or person owning or holding a majority of the stock
  of a common carrier, gas corporation or electrical  corporation  subject
  to the jurisdiction of the public service commission shall be subject to
  the  supervision  of  the  public  service  commission in respect of the
  relations between such common carrier,  gas  corporation  or  electrical
  corporation  and  such  owners  or  holders  of  a majority of the stock
  thereof in so far as such relations arise from  or  by  reason  of  such
  ownership  or  holding of stock thereof or the receipt or holding of any
  money or property thereof or from or by reason of any  contract  between
  them;  and  in respect of such relations shall in like manner and to the
  same extent as  such  common  carrier,  gas  corporation  or  electrical
  corporation   be   subject  to  examination  of  accounts,  records  and
  memoranda, and shall furnish such reports and information as the  public
  service commission shall from time to time direct and require, and shall
  be subject to like penalties for default therein.
i.   To   thermal   energy  provided  by  gas  corporations,  electric
  corporations, or combination gas and electric corporations.
2. The commission shall encourage all persons and corporations subject
  to its jurisdiction to formulate  and  carry  out  long-range  programs,
  individually  or  cooperatively,  for  the  performance  of their public
  service responsibilities with economy,  efficiency,  and  care  for  the
  public   safety,  the  preservation  of  environmental  values  and  the
  conservation of natural resources.
3. Application of the provisions of this chapter to one-way paging  or
  two-way  mobile  radio  telephone  service  with  the  exception of such
  services provided by means of cellular radio communication is  suspended
  unless  the commission, no sooner than one year after the effective date
  of this subdivision, makes a determination, after  notice  and  hearing,
  that  regulation  of  such services should be reinstituted to the extent

  found necessary to protect the public interest  because  of  a  lack  of
  effective competition.
4.  Upon  finding  that  it  is  in  the public interest to do so, the
  commission may exempt from any or all of the provisions of this chapter,
  for such period of time as  it  deems  appropriate,  an  association  of
  homeowners  owning  and  operating  any  water  plant or water-works and
  distributing water only to customers having an interest and voice in its
  operation.
5. The commission  shall  develop  a  plan  to  maximize  the  use  of
  telecommuting  to conserve energy otherwise used by the personnel of the
  department in commuting to their assigned workplace. Within one year  of
  the  effective  date  of this subdivision, the commission shall submit a
  report to the governor and the legislature on the impact of such plan to
  include, but not  be  limited  to,  energy  conservation,  air  quality,
  workforce acceptance, office costs and potential cost savings.
6.  a.  Application  of  the  provisions  of  this chapter to cellular
  telephone services is suspended unless the commission,  no  sooner  than
  one  year  after  the  effective  date  of  this  subdivision,  makes  a
  determination,  after  notice  and  hearing,  that  suspension  of   the
  application  of the provisions of this chapter shall cease to the extent
  found necessary to protect the public interest.
b. For the purpose of  determining  whether  a  cellular  provider  is
  subject  to  taxation  under section one hundred eighty-six-a of the tax
  law on a gross income or gross operating income basis, during  a  period
  of  suspension  prescribed  pursuant  to this section, the tax status of
  such provider shall be determined on the day previous to  the  day  such
  suspension commenced and such status shall continue during the period of
  such suspension.
c. Notwithstanding paragraph a of this subdivision, the commission may
  designate  any  commercial  mobile  radio  or cellular telephone service
  providers as an eligible  telecommunications  carrier  for  purposes  of
  providing  lifeline  service, in addition to any commercial mobile radio
  or cellular telephone service providers designated as such  pursuant  to
  47 U.S.C. § 214(e) and 47 U.S.C. § 214(e)(2), without requiring any such
  provider  to  obtain  a  certificate of public convenience and necessity
  pursuant to section ninety-nine  of  this  chapter.  The  commission  is
  authorized   and  directed  to  promulgate  all  rules  and  regulations
  necessary  to  implement  the  provisions  of  this  paragraph,  and  to
  establish   standards   and  safeguards  for  approval  as  an  eligible
  telecommunications carrier for purposes of providing  lifeline  service.
  Such  standards and safeguards shall include, but not be limited to, the
  provider's managerial, financial and technical capability and expertise,
  including whether the provider has forfeited eligible telecommunications
  carrier designation in another state or been subject to  the  imposition
  of   substantial   monetary  penalties  by  the  federal  communications
  commission or another state.  Upon  adoption  by  the  commission,  such
  standards  and  safeguards  shall apply to new applicants, and shall not
  apply to previously approved providers or affiliated  entities  of  such
  providers with common financial, managerial and technical capability and
  expertise.