H. B. 2338
(By Delegates Perdue, R. Thompson and Kominar)
[Introduced February 15, 2005; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §24-3-10, relating to
prohibiting termination or refusal of reinstatement of
electric or gas service during certain months.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-3-10, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF PUBLIC UTILITIES SUBJECT TO
REGULATIONS OF COMMISSION.
§24-3-10. Seasonal termination protection.
(a) From the first day of November through the fifteenth day
of April, no electric company, electric distribution company,
electric supplier or municipal utility furnishing electricity may
terminate or refuse to reinstate residential electric service in hardship cases where the customer lacks the financial resources to
pay his or her entire account.
(b) From the first day of November through the fifteenth day
of April, no gas company and no municipal utility furnishing gas
may terminate or refuse to reinstate residential gas service in
hardship cases where the customer uses such gas for heat and lacks
the financial resources to pay his or her entire account.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, no electric company, electric distribution company, gas
company, electric supplier or municipal utility furnishing
electricity or gas may terminate or refuse to reinstate residential
electric or gas service where the customer lacks the financial
resources to pay his or her entire account and for which customer
or a member of the customer's household the termination or failure
to reinstate such service would create a life-threatening
situation.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit shutting off
electric or gas service from November 1st through April 15th.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.