What's happening
This bill allows energy customers in New York to choose a single consolidated bill for both ESCO and utility services.
Why it matters
Empowers consumers with choice. By allowing customers to select a single bill for both their energy service company (ESCO) and utility services, the bill increases flexibility and simplifies the billing process, making it easier for customers to manage and understand their energy expenses.
Potential cost savings for customers. If a customer chooses to receive a consolidated bill from their ESCO, the bill mandates that they receive a credit or rate adjustment reflecting the utility’s avoided billing costs, which could reduce customers’ overall bills.
Incentivizes efficient implementation. The bill allows utilities to recover costs and earn incentives for efficiently rolling out the single bill option, encouraging utilities to adopt streamlined, customer-friendly billing systems without bearing undue financial risk.
May impact competition and innovation. By providing ESCOs the opportunity to handle consolidated billing, the legislation could foster increased competition and innovation among energy providers, potentially leading to improved service offerings for customers.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Let Customers Combine Energy Bills
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to energy and telecommunications
- Referred to energy and telecommunications
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1272
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 11, 2019
Introduced by Sen. FUNKE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommunications
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to giving customers the option to receive a consolidated bill for both energy service companies and utility corporation services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 44 of the public service law is amended by adding a new subdivision 6 to read as follows:
6. Every customer of an energy services company shall have the option to receive a single consolidated bill for both ESCO and utility corporation services from either the ESCO, if it offers a consolidated bill, or the utility corporation. The commission shall ensure that customers who elect to receive a consolidated bill from an ESCO are provided a credit or other rate adjustment reflecting the costs avoided by the utility corporation in no longer billing the customer directly, that utilities recover prudently incurred and incremental costs related to implementing the single consolidated bill option and that utilities have an opportunity to earn an appropriate incentive for the efficient implementation of the single consolidated bill option.
§ 2. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07180-02-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public service law, in relation to giving customers the option to receive a consolidated bill for both energy service compa- nies and utility corporation services
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purpose of this bill is to allow electricity and natural gas custom- ers the option to receive a single bill for both commodity and utility distribution charges from either their energy services company (ESCO) or utility.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1. Provides that every customer of an energy services company shall have the option to receive a single consolidated bill for both ESCO and utility corporation services from either the ESCO, if it offers a consolidated bill, or the utility corporation. Requires the Public Service Commission to ensure that: customers who elect to receive a consolidated bill from an ESCO are provided a credit or other rate adjustment reflecting the costs avoided by the utility in no longer billing the customer directly; utilities recover prudently incurred and incremental costs related to implementing the single consolidated bill option; and utilities have an opportunity to earn an appropriate incen- tive for the efficient implementation of the single consolidated bill option.
Section 2. Sets the effective date at one year after enactment.
Justification
As the state and energy industry move forward with the adoption of new market structures to encourage customers of all sizes to deploy more innovative technologies and sophisticated product and service packages, it will be Important to provide ESCOs and their customers the option to receive one bill for services from not only the utility, but from the ESCO if available. Customers seeking to procure energy related (e.g. energy efficiency, renewables, demand response and distributed gener- ation value added products)and non-energy related services (e.g. smart home, home maintenance, theft protection, entertainment and communi- cations services) will often prefer a single bill from the entity that is providing the preponderance of services to them. Energy services will likely become embedded in a suite of services being offered to consum- ers, and it will often be more practical to include the utility's charg- es for distribution services as part of larger bill than the other way around. In addition, ESCOs operating on a national level can bring larg- er economies of scale to the billing function, while Incorporating charges for standardized products and services for customers across the country.
Prior legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
None to the State
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.