Assembly to weigh bill requiring prorated utility, telecom bills after lengthy outages

Assembly lawmakers on Monday will weigh a bill that would require utilities and telecommunications firms to return a portion of customers’ bills if outages block service for at least three consecutive days.

The measure, which will come before the Assembly’s telecommunications committee, would require telecoms and utilities to prorate customer bills if outages suspend services for at least 72 hours. Lawmakers say the bill is needed amid increasingly severe storms and residents’ growing reliance on internet providers.

“It’s not just cable TV if your television’s out for X amount of period of time anymore,” said bill sponsor Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Mercer), the panel’s chairman. “Your cable service is inclusive now of everything. It has your Wi-Fi and it has your phone system as well.”

New Jersey is no stranger to severe storms. Even apart from historic ones like Hurricane Sandy — which stopped the flow of electricity to more than two million New Jersey ratepayers, in some cases for more than a week — serious storms have grown more regular over the last decade.

Six of the 10 most damaging storms to hit the eastern seaboard happened in the last 10 years, and nine occurred in the last 20.

“Every storm is like you’re on pins and needles around here,” said bill sponsor Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Passaic). “That’s just the reality. It’s a reality I think we have to deal with, from the earthquake to the power outages to the rain and the damage that happens.”

The proration is simple for telecom bills. Since such services are typically billed monthly, a provider could prorate the bill by reducing a customer’s bill proportionally to the service interruption. If a customer is billed $300 in a 30-day month and experiences an outage lasting six consecutive days, the bill would entitle them to a proration of $50.

DeAngelo said he expects state agencies to set forth the exact method for calculating outage-related discounts in regulations.

DeAngelo said he expected the measure to meet little opposition, noting its provisions were negotiated with stakeholders.

He added it would see some amendments, including one that would require customers to notify their telecom or utility provider of outages to have their bills prorated.

Rich Henning, president and CEO of the New Jersey Utilities Association, did not return an email seeking comment.

“Things are expensive. Things are getting more expensive and people, especially those on fixed incomes or with lower incomes, they’re struggling to pay for something that’s not being provided,” DeAngelo said. “It doesn’t seem right or fair.”