What's happening
This bill requires New York City to retroactively credit hospitals and charities for water charges on services not supplied, including correcting improper meter use.
Why it matters
Ensures that New York City cannot charge hospitals and charities for water services that were never actually supplied, requiring verification before imposing charges. This means these institutions may see significant reductions or corrections in their historical water bills, freeing up more resources for their core missions.
Corrects past billing errors involving improper use of water meter multipliers, including situations where the city knew or should have known about the problem. This specifically benefits entities with cooling tower meters, ensuring they are only billed for actual water usage rather than inflated estimates.
Applies credits for overcharges retroactively for up to ten years and mandates that any interest charged on these incorrect bills must also be credited back. This could result in substantial financial relief for affected institutions, potentially returning large sums that were wrongfully collected.
Revives old claims that were previously dismissed or settled, allowing institutions to pursue refunds for water overcharges even if those claims were once considered too old or legally closed. This provision uniquely reopens the door for legal recourse, which is rare and could set a precedent for other billing disputes.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Refunds For Unused Water Charges
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
1 Multi-sponsor
History
- Held for consideration in cities
- Referred to cities
- Referred to cities
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Refunds for Unused Water Charges
In Senate Committee · Cities · Sponsor Kevin S. Parker
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5352
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 8, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. LENTOL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT to amend chapter 696 of the laws of 1887, relating to providing hospitals, orphan asylums and other charitable institutions in the city of New York with water, in relation to credits for charges in which services were not supplied
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 3 of chapter 696 of the laws of 1887, relating to providing hospitals, orphan asylums and other charitable institutions in the city of New York with water, is amended by adding a new subdivision c to read as follows:
c. 1. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, before any water charges are imposed on any entity enumerated in section one of this act, the city of New York shall make certain that there are no charges being levied for services which were not supplied to such entity.
2. In instances where the city of New York has employed an improper meter multiplier, and where the city of New York has had active or constructive knowledge of the existence of such incorrect multiplier, the city of New York shall grant the entity credit for the period when billing was based on the improper multiplier. Such credit shall be available in instances, including, but not limited to, where an entity has installed a cooling tower meter, in accordance with city regulations, and an average daily flow has been determined from actual meter readings. In such cases, the average daily flow shall be measured and recorded by the city of New York and then applied, using typical processes for such calculations, to the periods in which services were not supplied to establish the amount of the credit to be granted for the relevant period, beginning with the date of installation of the meter.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07521-01-7
A. 5352 2
3. In any instance where there have been charges levied for services not supplied, credits allowed under this subdivision shall be applied retroactively up to ten years from the effective date of this subdivision. Any interest charges levied against such entity for services not supplied shall be credited to such entity's account.
4. This subdivision shall apply retroactively to all relevant claims of overcharges, failure to apply appropriate credits, and/or improper estimation of an entity's usage, without limitation, for all periods pre-dating the effective date of this subdivision. Any claims by an entity previously determined by court order to be time-barred or resolved through settlement are hereby revived, and action thereon may be commenced to avail such entity of the rights and remedies set forth in this subdivision.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.