STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4068
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 29, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KOLB -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Energy
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to phasing out tran-
sition fees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 65 of the public service law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 6-a to read as follows:
3 6-a. Transition fees. (a) Effective as of January first, two thousand
4 sixteen: No electric utility shall charge a transition rate that varies
5 by fifty percent or greater from month-to-month.
6 (b) Any electric utility whose transition rate varies by fifty percent
7 or greater from month-to-month must provide the customer with a budget
8 plan, wherein such budget plan includes a rate schedule that will not
9 violate paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
10 (c) No electric utility shall charge a transition fee in addition to
11 or in substitution of a transition fee calculated using a transition
12 rate.
13 (d) Effective as of January first, two thousand seventeen: No electric
14 utility shall charge a transition rate that exceeds the mean of the
15 transition rate charged from January, two thousand fourteen to December,
16 two thousand fourteen.
17 (e) Effective as of January first, two thousand nineteen: No electric
18 utility shall charge a transition fee.
19 (f) For the purposes of this subdivision, the following terms shall
20 have the following meanings: (i) "Transition rate" shall be defined as
21 the price per kilowatt hour charged by the electric utility to calculate
22 the transition fee.
23 (ii) "Transition fee" shall be defined as any fee charged by an elec-
24 tric utility for the electric utility's costs, liabilities, and invest-
25 ments, such as uneconomic assets, that electric utilities would reason-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02730-01-5
A. 4068 2
1 ably expect to recover if the former regulatory structure continued and
2 that will not be recovered as a result of restructured industry regu-
3 lation that allows retail choice of electricity suppliers.
4 (iii) "Budget plan" shall be defined as a plan designed to reduce
5 fluctuations in customers' bills due to seasonal patterns of consump-
6 tion. Unless otherwise authorized by the commission, as described in
7 section sixty-six of this article, each such plan shall be based on the
8 customer's recent twelve-month experience, adjusted for known changes.
9 If twelve months of billing data are not available for the customer then
10 twelve months of billing data for the premises shall be used. If twelve
11 months of billing data are not available for the premises then the util-
12 ity shall estimate future consumption over the next twelve-month period.
13 Each such plan shall provide that bills clearly identify consumption and
14 state the amounts that would be due without a budget plan. Each such
15 plan shall provide that bills be subject to regular review for conformi-
16 ty with actual billings. Each such plan shall be filed with the commis-
17 sion and any significant changes in the plan shall be submitted to the
18 commission for review before implementation.
19 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
