Pennsylvania Code › Title 52 - PUBLIC UTILITIES › Part I - Public Utility Commission › Subpart C - Fixed Service Utilities › Chapter 56 - STANDARDS AND BILLING PRACTICES FOR RESIDENTIAL PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICE › Subchapter B - BILLING AND PAYMENT STANDARDS › BILLING › Section 56.17 - Advance payments

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
Payments may be required in advance of furnishing any
						  of the following services:
(1)
						Seasonal service.
(2) The
						construction of facilities and furnishing of special equipment.
(3) Gas and electric rendered through
						prepayment meters provided:
(i) The customer
						is nonlow income. For purposes of this section, "nonlow income" is defined as
						an individual who has an annual household gross income greater than 150% of the
						Federal poverty income guidelines and has a delinquency for which the
						individual is requesting a payment arrangement but offering terms that the
						public utility, after consideration of the factors in §
													56.97(b)
						(relating to procedures upon customer or occupant contact prior to
						termination), finds unacceptable.
(ii) The service is being rendered to an
						individually-metered residential dwelling, and the customer and occupants are
						the only individuals affected by the installation of a prepayment
						meter.
(iii) The customer and
						public utility enter into a payment arrangement which includes, but is not
						limited to, the following terms:
(A) The
						customer voluntarily agrees to the installation of a prepayment
						meter.
(B) The customer agrees to
						purchase prepayment credits to maintain service until the total balance is
						retired and the public utility agrees to make new credits available to the
						customer within 5 days of receipt of prepayment.
(C) The public utility agrees to furnish the
						customer with emergency backup credits for additional usage of at least 5
						days.
(D) The customer agrees that
						failure to renew the credits by making prepayment for additional service
						constitutes a request for discontinuance under §
														56.72(1)
						(relating to discontinuance of service), except during a medical emergency, and
						that discontinuance will occur when the additional usage on the emergency
						backup credits runs out.
(iv) The public utility develops a written
						plan for a prepayment meter program, consistent with the criteria established
						in this section, and submits the plan to the Commission at least 30 days in
						advance of the effective date of the program.
(v) During the first 2 years of use of
						prepayment meters, the public utility thoroughly and objectively evaluates the
						use of prepayment meters in accordance with the following:
(A)
Content
. The evaluation
						should include both process and impact components. Process evaluation should
						focus on whether the use of prepayment meters conforms to the program design
						and should assess the degree to which the program operates efficiently. The
						impact evaluation should focus on the degree to which the program achieves the
						continuation of public utility service to participants at reasonable cost
						levels. The evaluation should include an analysis of the costs and benefits of
						traditional collections or alternative collections versus the costs and
						benefits of handling nonlow income positive ability to pay customers through
						prepayment metering. This analysis should include comparisons of customer
						payment behavior, energy consumption, administrative costs and actual
						collection costs.
(B)
Time
						frame.
The process evaluation should be undertaken during the middle
						of the first year; the impact evaluation at least by the end of the second
						year.