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.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10305A
SPONSOR: Paulin TITLE OF BILL:
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
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill strengthens medical protections under Public Service Law 32 by
creating uniform definitions, standardized applications, clear time-
lines, and accountability requirements to safeguard medically vulnerable
utility customers from service termination.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: This section amends subdivision 3 of section 32 of the Public
Service Law to standardize and enhance medical protections against util-
ity shut offs. It provides for uniform definitions, procedures, applica-
tion requirements, timeframes, reporting requirements, and regulatory
authority for implementation.
Subsection (a): This subsection requires the Commission to utilize
specific definitions for medical emergency, life support equip- ment,
and elderly, blind, disabled for designating customer accounts.
Subsection (b): This subsection requires the Commission to establish and
require simplified and standardized application forms for all utilities.
Subsection (c): This subsection requires utilities to accept applica-
tions from licensed medical professionals or customers directly, limits
medical documentation to proof of necessity, prohibits financial
documentation for the first thirty days of medical emergency relief, and
requires HEFPA compliance for any subsequent verification.
Subsection (d): This subsection requires utilities to accept applica-
tions through multiple means of submission.
Subsection (e): This subsection requires utilities to process applica-
tions within five business days and provides for automatic approval if
no action is taken within the five-day period.
Subsection (f): This subsection prohibits utilities from requiring
extensive , medical documentation beyond what is authorized or denying
life support equipment for designating customer accounts based on inter-
nal medical necessity determinations.
Subsection (g) mandates the reporting of applications, approvals, and
denials by the utilities to the Commission each year and the preparation
of an annual public report by the Commission, which shall be published
starting July 1, 2027.
Section 2 gives the act an effective date of one hundred eighty days
after the enactment of the law.
JUSTIFICATION:
Current law provides special protections from utility shut offs for
elderly, blind, or disabled customers as well as customers who depend on
life-support equipment to sustain their life. However, these protections
are inconsistently applied among utility corporations and sometimes hard
to access for medically vulnerable customers. Patients with medical
conditions requiring oxygen, ventilators, dialysis equipment, refriger-
ated medications, or severe health consequences from the loss of elec-
tricity, gas, or steam continue to face delays, denials, or onerous
documentation requirements.
Customers are often required to provide a great deal of medical informa-
tion, are subject to inconsistent financial verification requirements,
and face immense delays in processing applications. These factors pose
severe health and safety risks, especially to elderly, blind, disabled,
and chronically ill utility customers. In some instances, utility
service shut offs may lead to hospitalizations, emergency services, or
life-threatening outcomes.
The bill does not create new benefit programs or expand eligibility
categories; rather, it strengthens and clarifies existing protections to
ensure they function as intended.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
None to state.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment
and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
completed on or before such effective date
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10305--A
IN ASSEMBLY
February 20, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
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.
LBD14906-02-6
A. 10305--A 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 and implementing uniform
15 definitions, standardized procedures, and uniform applications or forms,
16 for determining a medical emergency, life-support equipment, and elder-
17 ly, blind and disabled designation, to be used by utility corporations.
18 For the purposes of this subdivision, these protections shall apply to
19 the residential utility account whenever any resident of the household
20 meets one or more of the criteria, regardless of whether the customer of
21 record, or any other household member, does not meet all of such crite-
22 ria.
23 (a) The commission shall use the following definitions to safeguard
24 utility customers from service terminations and to require restoration
25 of service:
26 (i) "medical emergency" shall mean documentation from a state licensed
27 medical professional stating that loss of electric service would aggra-
28 vate an existing medical condition;
29 (ii) "life-support equipment" shall mean any device or medical equip-
30 ment necessary to sustain life or prevent serious deterioration of
31 health; and
32 (iii) "elderly, blind or disabled" shall mean a household in which one
33 or more members is over the age of sixty-two or is blind or disabled.
34 (b) The commission shall develop and mandate the use of simplified,
35 standardized applications or forms to designate accounts for medical
36 emergency, life-support equipment, and the designation of elderly, blind
37 or disabled, by utility corporations.
38 (c) Utility corporations shall accept applications or forms for desig-
39 nating accounts as medical emergency, life-support equipment, or elder-
40 ly, blind or disabled, submitted by a licensed medical provider or
41 submitted by the customer directly, without requiring disclosure of
42 detailed health information beyond confirmation of medical necessity.
43 Utility corporations shall not require financial documentation for the
44 initial thirty-day medical emergency. Subsequent financial verification
45 shall comply with the home energy fair practices act and minimize
46 burdensome requirements.
47 (d) Utility corporations shall accept applications or forms for
48 medical emergency, life-support equipment, and elderly, blind or disa-
49 bled designation via email, regular mail, in-person delivery, online
50 accounts, a dedicated online portal for such purpose and facsimile.
51 (e) Utility corporations shall review and act upon submitted applica-
52 tions or forms under this subdivision, within five business days of
53 receipt. Failure to act within such timeframe shall result in automatic
54 approval of the requested account designation.
55 (f) Utility corporations shall not request detailed medical records or
56 information beyond what is defined in this section or deny life-support
A. 10305--A 3
1 equipment account designation based on internal interpretation of
2 medical necessity.
3 (g)(i) Every utility corporation shall, on an annual basis, provide to
4 the commission:
5 (1) the total number of customers who applied for medical emergency,
6 life-support equipment and elderly, blind or disabled designation;
7 (2) the total number of customers who were approved for each customer
8 account designation;
9 (3) the total number of customers who were denied for each account
10 designation; and
11 (4) any other relevant information as determined by the commission.
12 (ii) By July first, two thousand twenty-seven and annually thereafter,
13 the commission shall issue a report to the governor and the legislature
14 containing such information, and make such report available to the
15 public on its website.
16 [(c) Special procedures for cold weather periods.] (h) (i) The commis-
17 sion shall establish procedures to be followed by a utility or munici-
18 pality supplying heat related service in cold weather periods. Such
19 procedures shall be designed to identify and assist, prior to termi-
20 nation of service, those residents who may suffer serious impairment to
21 health or safety as a result of any such termination. The commission
22 shall establish the applicable cold weather periods; specify criteria
23 for identifying residents who are likely to suffer serious impairments,
24 and require that such service not be terminated unless a representative
25 of the utility or municipality makes a diligent effort to contact by
26 telephone or in person an adult resident of the customer's premises at
27 least seventy-two hours prior to termination, makes a personal visit at
28 the time of termination and provides the customer with information
29 regarding the protections available under this article. The commission
30 shall provide for the manner in which such contacts and personal visits
31 are made. (ii) The commission shall also require a utility or munici-
32 pality supplying service to continue service to customers where a seri-
33 ous impairment to health or safety is likely to result from termination
34 of service and the person supplied is unable because of mental or phys-
35 ical problems to manage [his or her] their own resources or to protect
36 [himself or herself] themself from neglect or hazardous situations with-
37 out the assistance of others. Doubts shall be resolved in favor of
38 continued service. Continuations of service shall be for a period of
39 time to be established by the commission. The commission shall consult
40 with the department of social services and the state office for the
41 aging in implementing the provisions of this paragraph.
42 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
43 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
44 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
45 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
46 completed on or before such effective date.
