2023 Pennsylvania Consolidated & Unconsolidated Statutes › Title 66 - PUBLIC UTILITIES › Chapter 15 - Service and Facilities › Section 1526 - Delivery and contents of first termination notice to tenants

§ 1526. Delivery and contents of first termination notice to tenants.
(a) General rule.--
The notice required to be given to a tenant pursuant to section 1523 (relating to notices before service to landlord terminated) shall be sent by first class mail or otherwise hand-delivered to each affected tenant by name at his individual dwelling unit, or by unit number or unit designation, and shall be posted in common areas.
(1) In the case when a utility does not send notice by first class mail, notice shall be hand-delivered. Hand-delivery shall mean two attempts at personal service on a responsible individual residing within the dwelling unit on the same or separate days. Each attempt at personal service must be made as follows:
(i) One attempt shall be made between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on any day Monday through Friday.
(ii) The other attempt shall be made either between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on any day Monday through Friday or between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on a Saturday or Sunday.
Each of these attempts must be made not less than four hours apart. If no personal service is made on any occasion, the notice must be posted on the individual dwelling unit and inserted under the door if floor space allows.
(2) In the case where the utility cannot gain access to a residential building to comply with paragraph (1), the utility shall apply to court to obtain the names and send notice by first class mail to the affected tenant.
In order to obtain the names and addresses of the affected tenants and in conjunction with section 1524 (relating to request to landlord to identify tenants), the utility representative shall visit the affected premises within seven days of service of notice to the landlord ratepayer, under section 1525 (relating to delivery and contents of termination notice to landlord), and, by personally contacting one or more of the affected tenants, shall attempt to obtain the names of all the tenants residing in the affected premises. The notice for each affected tenant for whom a name has been obtained shall be sent by first class mail or otherwise hand-delivered to each affected tenant by name at his individual dwelling unit by address and by unit number or, if none exists, by unit designation and shall also be conspicuously posted in the common areas. The notice for each affected tenant for whom a name has not been obtained shall be hand-delivered to each individual dwelling unit by address and unit number or, if none exists, by unit designation and shall be conspicuously posted in the common areas. For the purposes of this section, the term "unit designation" means the geographic location of a dwelling unit by floor and floor area. All notices shall contain the following information:
(1) The date on which the notice is rendered.
(2) The date on or after which service will be discontinued.
(3) On each account, the bill for the billing month preceding the notice to the tenants except that, in the case of water and sewer service where the billing period is bimonthly or quarterly, the utility shall provide an estimate of costs for the previous 30-day period. Estimates shall be based upon actual usage or, if actual usage is not available, by determining one-twelfth of the dwelling unit's annual usage.
(4) The following statement of the tenant's rights, the words and phrases of which appear all in capital letters to be printed in 12-point bold-faced type with the first letter printed in upper case and the letters that follow in lower case and the words and phrases which do not appear all in capital letters to be printed in ten-point type, with any letter in upper case to remain so and the rest in lower case:
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO TENANTS
WARNING: YOUR (utility company shall insert company name and type of service) MAY BE SHUT OFF ON OR AFTER (date) BECAUSE (utility shall fill in reason for termination). TO STOP THE SHUTOFF OF YOUR UTILITY SERVICE, YOU MUST DO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING THINGS:
1. You can join with the other tenants to pay the utility bill for the last 30 days preceding this notice or you can pay the total bill yourself. Either way, you do not have to pay a deposit or get credit granted in your name. You will not have to pay your landlord's other debts or the debts of prior tenants, and the utility service will remain in the name of the landlord.
2. You may deduct your payment to the utility company from your rent due now or from future rent. The utility company will tell your landlord how much you paid for that utility service.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
1. The bill which must be paid to continue service is $(amount).
2. Your landlord cannot punish you if you pay the utility bill. Your landlord cannot raise your rent, cannot evict you and cannot take action against you in any other way for paying the utility bill and deducting it from rent. You have a right to recover money damages from the landlord for any damages or injury he causes you for exercising your rights as a result of this notice.
3. You have the right to dispute the accuracy of the bill and have certain other rights. If you would like further information regarding these rights, contact your utility at (utility shall fill in a phone number and address where the tenant may get further information).
DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about your utility service, please contact the utility company at (telephone number and address). If, after talking about your problems with the utility, you are not satisfied, then call the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission at its toll-free number, which is 1-800-692-7380, or write the Residential Termination Unit, Bureau of Consumer Services, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, P.O. Box 3265, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120. YOU SHOULD CALL OR WRITE BEFORE THE SHUTOFF. TO AVOID SHUTOFF, YOUR LETTER MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE THE SHUTOFF DATE.
The words and phrases of the foregoing notice to tenants are subject to revisions due to changes in the rules, regulations and laws governing this subchapter.
(5) That the tenant or tenants must make payment to the utility on account of nonpayment of charges by the landlord ratepayer by check or money order drawn by the tenant to the order of the utility or by cash and that the tenant must provide, upon request, reasonable identification to the utility. Reasonable identification shall include, but not be limited to, a driver's license, photo identification, medical assistance or food stamp identification or any similar document issued by any public agency which contains the name and address of the tenant.
(b) Uniform explanation of tenants' rights and responsibilities.--
The commission shall direct the affected utilities to develop for commission approval a uniform explanation of all rights and responsibilities of tenants under this subchapter. Within 180 days of the effective date of this section, the uniform explanation of all rights and responsibilities of tenants shall be available in a suitable format for distribution by the utility company in response to requests by tenants under subsection (a).
(July 2, 1993, P.L.379, No.54, eff. 60 days)
Cross References.
Section 1526 is referred to in sections 1523, 1528, 1532 of this title.