A 9275: Requires utility companies or municipalities act with due diligence in providing notice to tenants of multiple dwellings about gas, electric or steam services being shut off; provides a cause of action for tenants who were not provided proper notice; provides protections for landlords of multiple dwellings with regard to deferred payment agreements; requires a utility or municipality provide employees who serve as a point of contact for each multiple dwelling they provide services for.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9275 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY November 21, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to protecting tenants whose landlord failed to timely pay utility payments The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 33 of the public service law, as added by chapter 2 713 of the laws of 1981, paragraphs (c) and (d) of subdivision 1 as 3 amended by chapter 195 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as 4 follows: 5 § 33. Discontinuance of residential utility service to multiple dwell- 6 ings. 1. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no public utility 7 company or municipality shall discontinue gas, electric or steam service 8 to an entire multiple dwelling (as defined in the multiple dwelling law 9 or the multiple residence law) located anywhere in this state for 10 nonpayment of bills rendered for service unless such utility shall have 11 given [fifteen] a minimum of forty-five days written notice of its 12 intention so to discontinue as follows: 13 (a) Such notice shall be served personally on the owner of the prem- 14 ises affected, or in lieu thereof, to the person, firm, or corporation 15 to whom or which the last preceding bill has been rendered and from whom 16 or which the utility has received payment therefor, and to the super- 17 intendent or other person in charge of the building or premises 18 affected, if it can be readily ascertained that there is such super- 19 intendent or other person in charge. 20 (b) In lieu of personal delivery to the person or persons, firm or 21 corporation specified in paragraph (a) [above] of this subdivision, such 22 notice may be mailed in a postpaid wrapper to the address of such person 23 or persons, firm or corporation. 24 (c) In addition to the notice prescribed by paragraph (a) or (b) of 25 this subdivision, [fifteen] a minimum of forty-five days written notice EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD13222-04-5 
 A. 9275 2 1 shall be (i) posted in the public areas of such multiple dwelling every 2 fifteen days, (ii) mailed to the "Occupant" of each unit in that multi- 3 ple dwelling a minimum of three times every fifteen days at least 4 forty-five days before a scheduled termination, (iii) mailed to the 5 local health officer and the director of the social services district 6 for the political subdivision in which the multiple dwelling is located, 7 (iv) if the multiple dwelling is located in a city or a village, mailed 8 to the mayor thereof, or if there be none, to the manager, or, if the 9 multiple dwelling is located in a town, then mailed to the town supervi- 10 sor, (v) mailed to the county executive of the county in which the 11 multiple dwelling is located, or if there be none, then to the [chair- 12 man] chairperson of such county's legislative body, (vi) mailed to the 13 town supervisor and the town clerk of the town in which the multiple 14 dwelling is located, (vii) mailed to the state elected assembly and 15 senate district offices in which district the building is located and 16 [(vi)] (viii) mailed to the office of the New York state long term care 17 ombudsman, if the multiple dwelling is a residential health care facili- 18 ty as defined in subdivision three of section twenty-eight hundred one 19 of the public health law, an adult care facility as defined in subdivi- 20 sion twenty-one of section two of the social services law, or an 21 assisted living residence as defined in subdivision one of section 22 forty-six hundred fifty-one of the public health law as added by chapter 23 two of the laws of two thousand four. Notice required by subparagraphs 24 (iv) [and], (v), (vi) and (vii) of this paragraph may be mailed to the 25 persons specified therein or to their respective designees. The notice 26 required by this paragraph shall state the intended date of discontin- 27 uance of service, the amount due for such service, and the procedure by 28 which any tenant or public agency may make such payment and thereby 29 avoid discontinuance of service. 30 (d) Go door to door a minimum of three times in such building and 31 provide in-person notice to all residents no later than sixty days prior 32 to such termination and provide certified documentation that such 33 in-person notification was provided. 34 (e) The written notice required by subparagraphs (iii), (iv), (v) and 35 (vi) of paragraph (c) of this subdivision shall be repeated not more 36 than four days nor less than two days prior to such discontinuance. 37 (f) A utility shall attempt to call or email the owner of the premises 38 affected a minimum of five times. 39 (g) If the owner of an affected premises cannot be found such utility 40 shall search at least three publicly accessible records to locate the 41 owner of such affected premises or the attorney for the owner which 42 shall include but not be limited to: 43 (i) the New York State eCourts system; 44 (ii) the automated city register information system; 45 (iii) local landlord registry portals; and 46 (iv) the New York state division of housing and community renewal 47 annual registry. 48 (h) A utility shall post its efforts to comply with the provisions of 49 this subdivision on its online public facing website, where it shall 50 have dedicated and specific information online for each specific build- 51 ing pursuant to section thirty-three-a of this article. 52 1-a. Whenever a notice of intention to discontinue utility service has 53 been made pursuant to the provisions of this section and obligations 54 owed the utility or municipality have been satisfied, the utility or 55 municipality shall notify, in the same manner as it gave such notice of 
 A. 9275 3 1 intention, the occupant of each unit that the intention to discontinue 2 utility service no longer exists. 3 1-b. The forty-five-day timeline to discontinue gas, electric or steam 4 service shall not start until a public utility company or municipality 5 complies with paragraphs (a), (b), (g) and (h) of subdivision one of 6 this section. 7 2. For the purposes of this section, the department charged with 8 enforcing the multiple dwelling law shall prepare a schedule of all 9 multiple dwellings within its jurisdiction and shall provide a copy of 10 such schedule to any gas, steam or electric corporation or municipality 11 subject to the provisions of this section. Such schedule shall be 12 revised semi-annually and a revised copy provided to such corporation. 13 Every county, and every municipality to which the multiple dwelling law 14 does not apply, which county or municipality has compiled or hereafter 15 may compile a listing of all multiple dwellings within its jurisdiction 16 shall make such listing available without charge to any gas, steam or 17 electric corporation providing service in such county or municipality. 18 3. Any gas, electric or steam corporation or municipality which will- 19 fully fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be 20 liable for a penalty of [twenty-five] one hundred dollars for each occu- 21 pied unit of the multiple dwelling for each day during which service is 22 unlawfully discontinued; provided, however, that when the only non-com- 23 pliance with this section is failure to mail notice to each "Occupant" 24 as required by [clause] subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c) of subdivi- 25 sion one [above] of this section the penalty shall be twenty-five 26 dollars for each occupied unit of the multiple dwelling to which notice 27 was not mailed for each day during which service is unlawfully discon- 28 tinued. An action to recover a penalty under this section may be brought 29 by the counsel to the commission in any court of competent jurisdiction 30 in this state in the name of the people of the state of New York. Any 31 moneys recovered in such action shall be paid to the state treasury to 32 the credit of the general fund. 33 4. Any person who willfully interferes with the posting of the notice 34 specified in [clause] subparagraph (i) of paragraph (c) of subdivision 35 one [above] of this section by any gas, steam or electric corporation or 36 municipality, willfully defaces or mutilates any such notice, or will- 37 fully removes the same from the place where it is posted by such company 38 prior to the date specified therein for the discontinuance of service 39 shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction, shall be punished 40 by a fine not exceeding [twenty-five] one hundred dollars. If such 41 notice has been tampered with, customers shall be provided with an 42 extension of at least fifteen days before termination. 43 5. The commission shall maintain rules and regulations for the payment 44 by tenants of utility bills for gas, electric or steam service in a 45 multiple dwelling to which this section applies where the owner of any 46 such multiple dwelling, or the person, firm or corporation to whom or 47 which the last preceding bill has been rendered or from whom or which 48 the utility or municipality has received payment therefor, has failed to 49 pay such utility bills. Such rules and regulations shall (a) provide 50 that utility service may not be discontinued to any such multiple dwell- 51 ing as long as the tenants continue to make timely payments in accord- 52 ance with established procedures; (b) include designation of an office 53 to advise tenants of the rights and procedures available pursuant to 54 such rules and regulations; (c) assure that tenants shall not be liable 55 for bills more than [two months] one month in arrears; and (d) require 56 the commission upon petition of [twenty-five] five percent of the 
 A. 9275 4 1 tenants of such multiple dwelling to meet with representatives of such 2 tenants and the owner, person, firm or corporation to whom or which the 3 last preceding bill has been rendered or from whom or which the utility 4 has received payment therefor. 5 6. (a) The commission shall create a standard form for complaints that 6 tenants shall utilize to advise the commission that a gas, electric or 7 steam service in a multiple dwelling is failing to comply with the 8 provisions of this section. 9 (b) The commission upon receiving a complaint pursuant to paragraph 10 (a) of this subdivision shall initiate an investigation to determine if 11 a gas, electric or steam service in a multiple dwelling violated the 12 provisions of this section. A gas, electric or steam service in a multi- 13 ple dwelling shall be prohibited from discontinuing such services during 14 the pendency of such investigation. 15 7. (a) A tenant shall have a cause of action against a utility who 16 fails to comply with the provisions of subdivisions one and one-b of 17 this section. 18 (b) If any action is commenced pursuant to paragraph (a) of this 19 subdivision, the finder of fact, in its discretion, may award injunctive 20 relief preventing the termination of such gas, electric or steam service 21 for failing to act with due diligence to such tenants. 22 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 37 of the public service law, as amended 23 by chapter 686 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows: 24 1. No utility corporation or municipality shall terminate or refuse to 25 take all actions within such corporation or municipality's control and, 26 where applicable, consistent with the provisions of the agreement for 27 commodity service, if any, between the corporation and the customer, 28 provided such provisions are consistent with this article, to restore 29 service to a residential customer or landlord of a multiple dwelling (as 30 defined in the multiple dwelling law or the multiple residence law), 31 because of arrears owed the utility corporation or municipality, unless 32 the utility or municipality offers such customer a deferred payment 33 agreement for such arrears; provided, however, that a deferred payment 34 agreement under this article shall not be available to any customer who 35 the commission determines has the resources available to pay [his] such 36 customer's bill, and provided further, however, that any such agreement 37 may provide for the customer to make a downpayment of the arrears, 38 provided that no such downpayment shall exceed one-half of the amount of 39 arrears or three months average billing, whichever is less. In addition, 40 the commission shall provide by regulation that (a) all deferred payment 41 agreements authorized by this article be fair and equitable, considering 42 the customer's financial circumstances; (b) that such agreements obli- 43 gate customers to make timely payment of current charges for service 44 together with payment of arrears during the pendency of the agreements; 45 that such agreements may be renegotiated and amended where the customer 46 can demonstrate that there have been significant changes in [his or her] 47 such customer's financial circumstances which have arisen due to condi- 48 tions beyond the customer's control, and that, if the customer receives 49 a utility service by the receipt of portions of such service from each 50 of two or more utility corporations and is billed for such service 51 through a single bill, the payments pursuant to the deferred payment 52 agreement for current charges shall be allocated to each such utility 53 corporation based on the current charges owing to each and the payments 54 for arrears shall be allocated equitably on a pro-rata basis between 55 such utility corporations based on the amount of arrears owing to each. 
 A. 9275 5 1 § 3. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 33-a to 2 read as follows: 3 § 33-a. Limited access to utility service status for residents of 4 multiple dwellings. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each 5 public utility company or municipality providing gas, electric or steam 6 service to a multiple dwelling shall be authorized to provide to any 7 occupant of such multiple dwelling, upon request, the following informa- 8 tion: 9 (a) in the event a utility company prepares a termination notice for a 10 multiple dwelling account held by a landlord, such utility shall provide 11 information whether the same landlord owns or manages any other multiple 12 dwelling accounts within its service territory; 13 (b) whether the utility account associated with such multiple dwelling 14 is current or at risk of discontinuance due to nonpayment; 15 (c) the scheduled date, if any, for the discontinuance of such service 16 pursuant to section thirty-three of this article; 17 (d) copies of any written notice required under section thirty-three 18 of this article that was posted or mailed to the multiple dwelling; and 19 (e) if the utility account is no longer at risk of termination as the 20 matter is now resolved. 21 2. A utility company or municipality providing the information 22 described in subdivision one of this section shall not be deemed to have 23 breached any confidentiality obligation or privacy requirement applica- 24 ble to utility account information, provided that no information identi- 25 fying the account holder or account number shall be disclosed. 26 3. Each utility shall designate an employee within its customer 27 service department to serve as point-of-contact for tenants of multiple 28 dwellings subject to subdivision one of this section. The utility shall 29 post the contact information for such employee in a conspicuous location 30 within the public areas of any such multiple dwelling for which service 31 is at risk of discontinuance. 32 4. The commission shall prescribe any rules and regulations necessary 33 for the implementation of this section. 34 § 4. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 35 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 36 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 37 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in 38 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section 39 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg- 40 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of 41 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such 42 invalid provisions had not been included herein. 43 § 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 44 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend- 45 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen- 46 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made or 47 completed on or before such date.