Requires that gas and electric corporations provide in-person customer service representatives and maintain a publicly accessible outage and emergency tracking website.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
11711
IN ASSEMBLY
September 16, 2026
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Manktelow)
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Energy
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring gas and
electric corporations provide in-person customer service represen-
tatives and maintain a publicly accessible outage and emergency track-
ing website
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 13 of section 65 of the public
2 service law, as amended by chapter 107 of the laws of 2025, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 (a) Every gas corporation or electric corporation furnishing utility
5 services shall provide the following call center customer assistance
6 receiving inquiries by phone or in writing on: customer financial
7 responsibility; receiving requests to initiate or terminate service;
8 receiving requests for emergency services; providing information on
9 outages and emergencies; shared metering; determining deposit required
10 or billing rate; receiving meter and service orders and access to meter
11 requests; explaining company rates, regulations, policies, procedures,
12 and common practices; initiating trouble order forms and high bill
13 investigations; inbound and/or outbound handling of payment and other
14 credit arrangements such as obtaining deposits, financial statements and
15 payment plans; collection assistance inquiries and referring customers
16 to social service agencies and other assistance programs. Such call
17 center shall always have available in-person customer service represen-
18 tatives to receive and respond to inquiries by phone. This paragraph
19 shall not apply to communications between departments to resolve a
20 customer inquiry. For purposes of this section, "collection assistance
21 inquiries" shall not include calls or activities related to the
22 collection of debts that are referred to third-party collection agencies
23 or those involving the direct pursuit of financial recovery on delin-
24 quent accounts.
25 § 2. Section 66 of the public service law is amended by adding a new
26 subdivision 21-a to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13660-01-5
A. 11711 2
1 21-a. Every gas corporation, electric corporation or municipality
2 furnishing utility services shall maintain a public facing website which
3 shall include real-time information on outages and emergencies, the
4 nature of such outages and emergencies, and estimates on when the
5 outages and emergencies will be resolved.
6 § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
7 law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
8 rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its
9 effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
10 effective date.
