H. B. 2390
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, By Request )
[Introduced March 4, 1997; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article two-a, chapter
twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to reduced rates
for low-income residential customers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article two-a, chapter twenty-four of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. REDUCED RATES FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS
OF ELECTRICITY AND GAS.
§24-2A-1. Special rates for gas and electric utility customers
receiving Social Security Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Aid to Families with Dependent Children--Unemployed (AFDC-U) or food stamps.
The commission shall order each gas and electric utility
subject to its jurisdiction, except municipal or cooperative gas
or electric utilities, to offer special reduced rates applicable
to gas and electric service for the billing months of December,
January, February, March and April of each year (beginning with
the billing month of December, one thousand nine hundred eighty- three), to residential utility customers receiving: (a) Social
security supplemental security income (SSI); (b) aid to families
with dependent children (AFDC); (c) aid to families with
dependent children-- unemployed (AFDC-U); or (d) food stamps, if
food stamp recipients are sixty years of age or older; or (e)
social security retirement benefits, if the persons are
sixty-five years of age or older. The special reduced rate
offered by each gas and electric utility to its eligible
customers shall be twenty percent less than the rate which would
be applicable to such customers if they were not receiving any of
the four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the
special reduced rates. A customer of a utility offering special
reduced rates shall be eligible to receive such rates for each of
the billing months of December, January, February, March and
April that correlates to a calendar month during which that
customer is eligible to participate in one or more of the qualifying programs specified in this section, except as
otherwise provided in this section. The correlation of billing
months to calendar months of eligibility to participate in a
qualifying program is as follows: A December billing month
correlates to the calendar month of November; a January billing
month correlates to the calendar month of December; a February
billing month correlates to the calendar month of January; a
March billing month correlates to the calendar month of February;
and an April billing month correlates to the calendar month of
March. After the billing month of April, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-four, no customer shall be eligible to receive the
special reduced rates until the billing month in which that
customer applies for such THE the rates. For the billing months of
December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three, and January,
February, March and April, one thousand nine hundred eighty-four,
a customer shall be eligible to receive a utility's special
reduced rates for any of said the billing months which correlates
to a calendar month during which that customer is eligible to
participate in one or more of the qualifying programs specified
in this section, regardless of the date on which that customer
applies for such rates: Provided, That the date of application
falls on or prior to the fifteenth day of May, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-four. No customer who applies for the special reduced rates after the fifteenth day of May, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-four shall be eligible to receive such the rates
for any of the billing months of December, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-three or January, February, March or April, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-four. Before any individual may
qualify to receive the special reduced rates, the following
requirements must be met:
(a) The special reduced rates shall apply only to current
customers or to those persons who subsequently become customers
in their own right. If an SSI, AFDC, AFDC- U or food stamp or
social security retirement recipient is living in a household
which is served under the name of a person who is not an SSI,
AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp or social security retirement
recipient, that service may not be changed or have been changed
subsequent to the twelfth day of March, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-three, to the name of the SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp
or social security retirement recipient in order to qualify for
service under the special reduced rates.
(b) The burden of proving eligibility for the special
reduced rates shall be on the customer requesting such the rates.
The department of human services shall establish by rules and
regulations procedures (1) to inform persons receiving any of the
four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the special reduced rates about the availability of the special reduced
rates, (2) to assist applicants for the special reduced rates in
proving their eligibility therefor, and (3) to assist gas and
electric utilities offering the special reduced rates in
determining on a continuing basis the eligibility therefor of
persons receiving or applying for such the rates. The commission
shall establish by rules and regulations procedures for the
application for and provision of service under the special
reduced rates and for the determination and certification of
revenue deficiencies resulting from the special reduced rates.
Within ten days of the effective date of this article, the
commission and the department of human services shall adopt
temporary rules and regulations, as required by this section,
which rules and regulations shall may not be subject to the
requirements of chapter twenty-nine-a and section seven, article
one of chapter twenty-four except that they shall be filed with
the secretary of state and published in the state register.
These temporary rules and regulations shall remain in effect
until supplanted by permanent rules, which shall be adopted by
the commission and the department of human services within one
hundred eighty days of the effective date of this article. No
customer who is a recipient of more than one of the four forms of
assistance which confer eligibility for the special reduced rates shall be eligible for more than one twenty percent discount for
gas service and one twenty percent discount for electric service
during each billing month that said the customer is eligible to
receive the special reduced rates.
(c) In order to provide each eligible residential utility
customer the special reduced rates for the billing months of
December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three, through April,
one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, (hereinafter referred to
as the first special-reduced-rate season), each utility providing
the special reduced rates shall credit against the amount
otherwise owed by each customer an amount equal to the difference
between the total amount that each such customer was actually
billed during the first special-reduced-rate season and the total
amount that each customer would have been entitled to be billed
under the special reduced rates. Each such credit shall be fully
reflected on the first bill issued to each such customer after
approval of each such customer's application for the special
reduced rates, except in cases where the interval between the
approval and the issuance of the next bill is so short that it is
administratively impracticable to do so, in which cases such
credits shall be fully reflected on the second bill issued to
each such customer after approval of that customer's application.
If the interval between the approval and the issuance of the next bill is fifteen days or more, it shall may not be deemed
administratively impracticable to reflect such credit on the
customer's first such bill.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide reduced rates
for persons who are sixty-five years of age and older and who
receive social security retirement income and who are customers
of gas and electric.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.