A 11711: 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.