Establishes uniform definitions, standardized procedures, and uniform applications or forms, for determining a medical emergency, life-support equipment and designation of elderly, blind and disabled customers protected from termination of utility services.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9321
IN SENATE
February 27, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommuni-
cations
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to protections
against termination of residential utility service in cases of medical
emergencies, life-support equipment and elderly, blind or disabled
customers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 32 of the public service law, as
2 added by chapter 713 of the laws of 1981, paragraph (a) as amended by
3 chapter 382 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
4 3. The commission shall safeguard from termination, or require resto-
5 ration of service to, those residents who will suffer serious impair-
6 ments to health or safety as a result of such termination or failure to
7 restore services[. The regulations shall include, but not be limited to:
8 (a) Medical emergencies. The commission shall require the continuation
9 or restoration of utility service to a customer's residence where a
10 medical emergency exists. The commission shall provide for written
11 certification by a medical doctor, nurse practitioner or local board of
12 health that termination of service or failure to restore service will
13 aggravate an existing medical emergency at a customer's residence,
14 provided that the commission may authorize an initial certification by
15 telephone if written certification is provided within five business
16 days. The commission shall provide for the duration, form, content and
17 renewal of written certificates. With respect to the renewal of written
18 certificates, the commission may require the customer to demonstrate an
19 inability to pay charges for service. The commission shall, in consulta-
20 tion with the departments of health and social services and the office
21 for the aging, establish criteria to be used by a medical doctor, nurse
22 practitioner or local board of health in making a determination that a
23 medical emergency exists or that the absence of service will aggravate
24 an existing medical emergency.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14906-01-6
S. 9321 2
1 (b) Customers who are elderly, blind, or disabled. The commission
2 shall provide special procedures to be followed by a utility or munici-
3 pality with respect to the termination or restoration of service to a
4 residence where the customer is known to or identified to the utility to
5 be blind, disabled, or sixty-two years of age or older; provided that
6 all the remaining residents of the household are sixty-two years of age
7 or older, eighteen years of age or under, or blind or disabled. The
8 commission shall afford reasonable protections to elderly, blind or
9 disabled customers, including a requirement that the utility corporation
10 or municipality make a diligent effort to contact by telephone or in
11 person an adult resident at the customer's premises at least seventy-two
12 hours prior to termination of service. The commission shall also estab-
13 lish reasonable procedures for identifying customers eligible for the
14 protections of this section] by establishing uniform definitions, stand-
15 ardized procedures, and uniform applications or forms, for determining a
16 medical emergency, life-support equipment, and elderly, blind and disa-
17 bled designation, through customer account coding to be used by utility
18 corporations.
19 (a) The commission shall use the following coding definitions to safe-
20 guard utility customers from service terminations and to require resto-
21 ration of service:
22 (i) "medical emergency" shall mean documentation from a state licensed
23 medical professional stating that loss of electric service would aggra-
24 vate an existing medical condition;
25 (ii) "life-support equipment" shall mean any device or medical equip-
26 ment necessary to sustain life or prevent serious deterioration of
27 health; and
28 (iii) "elderly, blind or disabled" shall mean a household in which one
29 or more members is over the age of sixty-two or is blind or disabled.
30 (b) The commission shall develop and mandate the use of simplified,
31 standardized applications or forms to code for medical emergency, life-
32 support equipment, and the designation of elderly, blind or disabled, by
33 utility corporations.
34 (c) Utility corporations shall accept applications or forms for coding
35 accounts as medical emergency, life-support equipment, or elderly, blind
36 or disabled, submitted by a licensed medical provider or submitted by
37 the customer directly, without requiring disclosure of detailed health
38 information beyond confirmation of medical necessity. Utility corpo-
39 rations shall not require financial documentation for the initial thir-
40 ty-day medical emergency. Subsequent financial verification shall comply
41 with the home energy fair practices act and minimize burdensome require-
42 ments.
43 (d) Utility corporations shall accept applications or forms for
44 medical emergency, life-support equipment, and elderly, blind or disa-
45 bled designation via email, regular mail, in-person delivery, online
46 accounts, a dedicated online portal for such purpose and facsimile.
47 (e) Utility corporations shall review and act upon submitted applica-
48 tions or forms under this subdivision, within five business days of
49 receipt. Failure to act within such timeframe shall result in automatic
50 approval of the requested coding.
51 (f) Utility corporations shall not request detailed medical records or
52 information beyond what is defined in this section or deny life-support
53 equipment coding based on internal interpretation of medical necessity.
54 (g)(i) Every utility corporation shall, on an annual basis, provide to
55 the commission:
S. 9321 3
1 (1) the total number of customers who applied for medical emergency,
2 life-support equipment and elderly, blind or disabled designation;
3 (2) the total number of customers were approved for each customer
4 account code;
5 (3) the total number of customers were denied for each code; and
6 (4) any other relevant information as determined by the commission.
7 (ii) By July first, two thousand twenty-seven and annually thereafter,
8 the commission shall issue a report to the governor and the legislature
9 containing such information, and make such report available to the
10 public on its website.
11 [(c) Special procedures for cold weather periods.] (h) (i) The commis-
12 sion shall establish procedures to be followed by a utility or munici-
13 pality supplying heat related service in cold weather periods. Such
14 procedures shall be designed to identify and assist, prior to termi-
15 nation of service, those residents who may suffer serious impairment to
16 health or safety as a result of any such termination. The commission
17 shall establish the applicable cold weather periods; specify criteria
18 for identifying residents who are likely to suffer serious impairments,
19 and require that such service not be terminated unless a representative
20 of the utility or municipality makes a diligent effort to contact by
21 telephone or in person an adult resident of the customer's premises at
22 least seventy-two hours prior to termination, makes a personal visit at
23 the time of termination and provides the customer with information
24 regarding the protections available under this article. The commission
25 shall provide for the manner in which such contacts and personal visits
26 are made. (ii) The commission shall also require a utility or munici-
27 pality supplying service to continue service to customers where a seri-
28 ous impairment to health or safety is likely to result from termination
29 of service and the person supplied is unable because of mental or phys-
30 ical problems to manage [his or her] their own resources or to protect
31 [himself or herself] themself from neglect or hazardous situations with-
32 out the assistance of others. Doubts shall be resolved in favor of
33 continued service. Continuations of service shall be for a period of
34 time to be established by the commission. The commission shall consult
35 with the department of social services and the state office for the
36 aging in implementing the provisions of this paragraph.
37 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
38 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
39 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
40 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
41 completed on or before such effective date.
