A bailout for families struggling to pay their utility bills will disappear at the end of this year unless Pennsylvania lawmakers pass legislation to reauthorize the Commonwealth’s Utility Shutoff Protection Act.
After a vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday and a vote in the state Senate in May, both chambers passed their own bills to extend the 20-year-old law, with amendments, for another 10 years. However, both houses still need to agree on the details and have only eight days of the session left to do so.
House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee Chairman Robert Matzie (D-Beaver) said House Bill 1077, which passed the House on 111-91 votes on Wednesday already includes changes from the Senate legislation, such as including the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority among the covered utilities.
“It makes it easier for people living paycheck to paycheck to pay their bills if something goes wrong in their lives,” Matzie said, noting that 330,000 customers had their utilities disconnected last year.
“Blair County residents were struggling with their electric bills just as much as Philadelphia residents. Does it matter whether you live in Greene County or the city of Pittsburgh if your gas service is shut off?” – Matzie asked.
Senate Bill 1017, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Northampton), the top Democratic member of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensing Committee, passed in May with a 42-8 vote, but House members found it insufficient. House, she said Matzie.
Existing responsible utility customer protection law provides a framework within which utilities must deal with customers who are unable to pay their bills and places restrictions on when and how utilities can be turned off.
The Home version The reauthorization bill would make changes including:
- Reducing the extent of the loss of income required to qualify for payment arrangements;
- Allowing people who are unable to pay due to illness to provide a note from a nurse in addition to a doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner;
- Prohibiting utilities from collecting deposits from customers earning less than 300% of the federal poverty income level;
- Extending the length and terms of payment arrangements;
- Prohibiting reconnection fees for people earning less than 250% of the federal poverty level and requiring reconnection fees to count towards arrears for people earning up to 400%;
- Allowing the Public Utilities Commission to consider protection-from-abuse orders issued in other states or a written certification from a domestic violence counselor or attorney to exempt a client from the application of the law.
The federal poverty level for a family of four is $31,000, which means families earning up to $93,000 will be eligible for payment plans.
Jesse Monoski, executive director of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensing Committee, said that while the House bill includes some aspects of the Senate bill, it goes beyond the Senate bill by eliminating deposit requirements and waiving reconnection fees.
The Senate bill would require “bad actors” who stole utility services or failed to pay bills in bad faith to post a deposit, would allow reconnection fees to be forgiven as a credit on customers’ bills if they enroll in a customer assistance program, and would eliminate the sunset provision requiring future reauthorization.
SB 1017 was referred to the House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee in May but has not made any progress.
During Wednesday’s House debate, Republicans expressed concern about the impact of expanded terms under which PUCs and utilities would be required to cooperate with customers.
Rep. Craig Williams (Delaware), who previously worked as deputy general counsel for Philadelphia-area gas and electric utility PECO, warned that uncollected utility bills would be added to utility balance sheets and ultimately passed on to consumers in the form of price increases.
“House Bill 1077 will certainly increase your electric and gas bills, and because we allowed the city of Pittsburgh to put water in that bill, your water bill, all of your bills will go up,” Williams said.
Also on Thursday, the House passed House Bill 2189, which reauthorizes Pennsylvania’s PA One Call program, which requires builders planning excavations to call the 811 hotline to flag underground utility lines. The bill passed in 120-82 votes.
