Connecticut Administrative Code › Title 16 - Public Service Companies › 3 - Termination of Electric, Gas, Water and Sewage Utility Service › Section 16-3-100 - Termination of utility service

Current through July 10, 2024
(a)
Definitions.
As used in this section:
(1) "Customer" or "customer of account" means
			 any person or entity which has contracted with a utility company for utility
			 service. If residential utility service has gone to the joint benefit of
			 spouses or to the support of their family then both spouses are customers of
			 the utility company even if only one spouse expressly contracted with the
			 company for residential utility service. For the purposes of subsection (j) of
			 this section, the spouse who expressly contracted for residential utility
			 service is the named customer and the spouse who did not expressly contract for
			 such service is the unnamed customer;
(2) "Residential customer" means a customer
			 who contracts with a utility company for utility service at residential
			 premises for domestic purposes;
(3)
			 "Commercial customer" or "Industrial customer" means a customer who contracts
			 with a utility company for utility service at nonresidential premises, whether
			 for profit or not for profit;
(4)
			 "Interruptible customer" means a commercial or industrial customer who
			 contracts with a utility company for utility service on an interruptible basis
			 which usually requires the availability of an alternate fuel;
(5) "Delinquent account" means a bill for
			 utility service which has remained unpaid for a period of more than 33 days
			 from the date a bill is mailed by a utility company which bills upon a monthly
			 basis; or a bill for utility service which has remained unpaid for a period of
			 more than 63 days from the date a bill is mailed by a utility company which
			 bills on a bi-monthly or quarterly basis, except for a bill for utility service
			 from a municipal water utility which becomes delinquent in accordance with the
			 regulations of the governing body. No partial payment of any delinquent account
			 shall affect the delinquent status of the amount remaining unpaid on such
			 account;
(6) "Hardship" or
			 "hardship case" means a person receiving or seeking reinstatement of
			 residential gas or electric utility service from November 1st to April 15th who
			 lacks the financial resources to pay his or her entire bill for gas and
			 electric utility service, including but not limited to:
(A) A person receiving local, state, or
			 federal public assistance, including but not limited to:
(i) aid to the blind;
(ii) aid to families with dependent
			 children;
(iii) old age
			 assistance;
(iv) aid to the
			 disabled;
(v) Medicaid;
(vi) supplemental security income;
			 or
(vii) general
			 assistance;
(B) A person
			 whose sole source of financial support is derived from social security,
			 veterans' administration or unemployment compensation benefits;
(C) A person who is head of the household and
			 unemployed, and whose household income is less than three hundred per cent of
			 the poverty level determined by the federal government;
(D) A person or any resident of the person's
			 home who is seriously ill, as certified by a registered physician in accordance
			 with subsection (e) (2) of this section, or has a life threatening
			 situation;
(E) A person whose
			 income falls below one hundred twenty five per cent of the poverty level as
			 determined by the federal government in accordance with the income poverty
			 guidelines from the regional office of family assistance, Department of Health
			 and Human Services or its successor agency; or
(F) A person whose circumstances threaten a
			 deprivation of the necessities of life for himself or herself or dependent
			 children of his or her household if payment of a delinquent utility bill is
			 required;
(7) "Head of
			 household" means a customer who provides the major source of income for himself
			 or herself and dependent children of the household;
(8) "Necessities of life" means those things
			 without which survival would be endangered, including but not limited to food,
			 clothing, shelter, medical expenses, and heat;
(9) "Department of Public Utility Control" or
			 "DPUC" means the Department of Public Utility Control;
(10) "DPUC hearing officer" means a hearing
			 officer designated by the DPUC to conduct hearings pursuant to subsections (f)
			 and (g) of this section. A DPUC hearing officer may be a member of the DPUC's
			 staff who performs functions unrelated to conducting hearings but shall not be
			 a person who has participated in the investigation in the same case pursuant to
			 subsections (f)(3) and (g)(2) of this section;
(11) "Reasonable amortization agreement"
			 means a promise to a utility company to pay a delinquent account over a period
			 of time;
(12) "Receipt" or
			 "received" means three days after the date of mailing, or, if a bill, notice or
			 other document is delivered rather than mailed, the date of delivery, unless
			 another date can be shown;
(13)
			 "Residential utility service" means utility service provided by a utility
			 company to a customer at a place of residence;
(14) "Review officer" means a person
			 designated by a utility company to investigate customer complaints and to
			 undertake informal reviews as provided in subsections (f) and (g) of this
			 section. A review officer may be any employee of the utility company other than
			 a member of the utility company's credit department who has previously
			 participated in the investigation; provided, however, that if the utility
			 company employs fewer than 25 full time employees, a member of the credit
			 department may act as review officer. A review officer shall be empowered to
			 review and overrule determinations of members of the utility company's credit
			 department on subjects within the review officer's authority as prescribed in
			 subsections (f) and (g) of this section;
(15) "Termination" or "terminate" means the
			 voluntary discontinuance of service to an individual utility customer but shall
			 not include interruption or curtailment of service consistent with interruption
			 pursuant to DPUC-approved tariffs or resulting from forced outages, energy or
			 capacity shortages or other emergencies;
(16) "Utility company" or "company" means any
			 gas, electric, or water company, corporation or other entity within the
			 jurisdiction of the DPUC which provides utility service and any municipal
			 utility which furnishes electric, gas or water service. In the case of
			 municipal utilities, the provisions of this section shall apply to termination
			 of residential service for nonpayment of a delinquent account. Subsections
			 (b)(3)(A), (b)(3)(B) and (f) of this section shall apply only to companies
			 providing residential electric or gas service;
(17) "Utility service" means the provision of
			 gas, electricity, or water by a utility company to a customer at retail rates
			 and shall include, without limitation, residential utility service;
(18) "Identification" means a social security
			 number, the number of an identity card issued pursuant to section
			 1-1h of the
			 Connecticut General Statutes, the number of a motor vehicle operator's license
			 issued pursuant to section
			 14-36
			 of the Connecticut General Statutes or any other means of identification
			 approved by the Department of Public Utility Control;
(19) "Household income" means the combined
			 income over a twelve month period for the customer and all adults, except minor
			 children of the customer, who are and have been members of the household for
			 six months or more;
(20) "Life
			 threatening situation" means a condition certified by a registered physician
			 that would endanger the life of the customer or a member of the customer's
			 household if gas or electric service were terminated;
(21) "Business office" means any office
			 facility that is operated by the utility company;
(22) "Energy assistance" means any payment
			 credited to the customer's account which is administered by the Department of
			 Social Services (DSS) and drawn from programs funded, administered or offered
			 by any local, state or federal government, including but not limited to, the
			 Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) and State Appropriated Fuel
			 Assistance Program (SAFA);
(23)
			 "Customer payment" means any payment or payments, other than energy assistance,
			 made by or on the behalf of a customer; and
(24) "Day" means calendar day.