Efforts renewed to reauthorize utility consumer protection law

(The Center Square) – With concerns mounting that Pennsylvanians will face skyrocketing utility costs in the coming months and years, state lawmakers are trying to find common ground to reauthorize a 20-year-old law related to unpaid utility bills and shut-offs.

The Responsible Utility Customer Protection Act, also known as Chapter 14, was first enacted in 2004 to protect responsible ratepayers by providing public utilities with tools to manage uncollected bills while safeguarding vulnerable customers through winter shut-off moratoriums and payment arrangements.

The law was last reauthorized in 2014, but the authority it granted lapsed at the end of 2024. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is temporarily maintaining the law’s protections until the General Assembly acts this legislative session.

The state Senate’s Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee on Monday unanimously reported out of the committee Senate Bill 154, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Bethlehem, which seeks to reauthorize Chapter 14.

“This framework is vital to stabilizing utility costs for hard-working families and seniors on fixed incomes,” said Boscola of Chapter 14. “With skyrocketing energy prices and mounting unpaid utility bills, the need for action is more urgent than ever.”

While Boscola, who worked on the prior reauthorizations of Chapter 14, said the “unanimous committee vote shows a shared commitment to protect ratepayers while providing utilities with the tools they need to operate fairly and efficiently,” her proposals have failed to pass muster with the Democrat-controlled state House of Representatives.

The reason Chapter 14 lapsed at the end of 2024 is the Senate and House have been unable to agree on the language of the reauthorization. Senate Bill 154 is worded the same as legislation introduced by Boscola during the 2023-24 legislative session, Senate Bill 1017. That legislation had been approved by the full state Senate on a vote of 42-8, but the House ignored the bill, which died when the session ended at the end of November.

Opponents of Senate Bill 1017 claimed it would have kept what they call the most “punitive” aspects of Chapter 14, such as bill repayment plans they deem to be unaffordable, and late fees and reconnection fees they find excessive.

Opposition was also voiced regarding a new provision to allow Philadelphia’s natural gas distribution operation, Philadelphia Gas Works, to disclose the amount of any unpaid natural gas distribution service subject to lien or other related costs to a property owner. Those disclosures could cause housing and family instability and increased homelessness if more evictions occur, said the bill’s detractors.

Critics also noted Boscola’s proposal would eliminate the need to reauthorize Chapter 14 in the future, which they say would remove the impetus to reevaluate the law’s provisions during the coming years and adjust for changes in the utility industry.

House Democrats last session chose to advance their own proposal, one that is far different than Boscola’s bill. No House members have yet reintroduced that chamber’s legislation from the prior session, but the 2023-24 session’s House Bill 1077, which the lower chamber sent to the Senate on a 111-91 vote, would make several substantive changes to Chapter 14.

Supporters of the House Bill 1077’s language argue it will make a needed expansion of the framework in which utilities must work with customers who are unable to pay their bills while also putting more limits on fees as well as when and how utilities can be shut off. Critcs of the bill’s expansion maintain it will lead to more uncollected utility bills, with those costs passed on to responsible customers.

The next stop for Boscola’s Senate Bill 154 will be the Senate Appropriations Committee prior to a final vote by the full Senate, something Boscola said needs to happen swiftly.