Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a Intent: This Section provides adequate notice
and reason for disconnection of an entire multi-meter premises when a utility is
unable to gain access to its facilities; allows for the property owner/manager and
customers of the premises to remedy the problem and thereby avoid disconnection; and
sets prohibitions and limits on this form of disconnection.
b Allowable Reasons for Disconnection of an Entire
Multi-Meter Premises:
1 The customers and property
owner/manager have failed two consecutive times to provide access to utility
facilities in order to meet regulatory requirements, including, but not limited to,
inside safety inspections and meter exchanges;
2 The customers and property owner/manager have
failed three consecutive times to provide access to utility facilities for
non-payment disconnections; or
3 The
customers and property owner/manager have failed four consecutive times to provide
access to utility facilities for meter readings.
c Utility Actions Required prior to Disconnection
of an Entire Multi-Meter Premises:
1 The utility
must attempt to obtain contact information for the property owner/manager,
independently or with the assistance of the affected customers
2 The utility must seek access by physical visit.
For each failure to gain access, the utility must record the date, time of day,
utility personnel involved, a detailed description of utility's efforts to gain
access and the reason for each failure to gain access. The utility shall retain the
records for two years;
3 For each effort
to gain access, the utility must send or deliver warning letters to each affected
customer and property owner/manager with at least 10 days advance notice of the
utility's intent to gain access and the need for the customer to contact the utility
to set up an appointment to provide access;
4 After the final consecutive failure to provide
access, according to the number of consecutive failures required in subsection (b),
the utility must send or deliver a disconnection notice to each affected customer
and the property owner/manager as required by Section
280.130;
5 At the same time the utility sends or delivers
the notices required in subsection (c)(3), it must also post the building with a
written notice of disconnection; and
6
If the utility seeks access to disconnect non-paying customers, the utility must
send or deliver a disconnection notice for non-payment to the customers in the
premises that it intends to disconnect for non-payment.
d Inconvenience Compensation Credit:
1 An inconvenience compensation credit shall be
issued by the utility to the accounts of customers who are not otherwise eligible
for non-payment disconnection when those customers are disconnected as a result of
the utility's disconnection of non-paying customers in the same premises.
2 The inconvenience compensation credit shall be
four times the monthly "customer charge" or $60, whichever is greater.
e Limitations on Non-payment
Disconnections for Multi-Meter Premises: All of the limits, prohibitions and
protections to customers offered in Sections
280.130
and
280.135
shall apply equally to lack of access disconnections of multi-meter premises for
non-payment.
f Reconnection: The utility
shall not disconnect a building unless it has the resources in place and is prepared
to reconnect service on the same day as the disconnection or the day access is
provided for any customers of a multi-meter premises who were otherwise not eligible
for non-payment disconnection.
g Data
Collection and Maintenance: The utility shall collect the following data on a
monthly basis and maintain the data for two years following its collection. The
utility shall make the data available to Commission Staff within 30 days after a
request from Staff:
1 In addition to the record
keeping required under subsection (c)(2), the utility shall record the total number
of "at-risk" buildings (i.e., any buildings the utility believes are currently
eligible for disconnection or would be eligible for disconnection in 30
days);
2 The utility shall retain a
record of the following information regarding a disconnection event:
A Address of building or facility
disconnected;
B Number of units affected
by the disconnection;
C Duration of the
building disconnection from the date of the disconnection to the date that the
building was reconnected;
D Cause for
multi-unit disconnection;
E Compensation
credit issued; and
F Customer contacts
received prior to and as a result of disconnection and their given reason for
failure to provide access.
