Provides that each electric corporation shall establish a unique priority phone number that shall remain in operation every day of the year for customers who have documented their need for essential electricity for medical needs; makes related provisions.
A03743 would amend the New York Public Service Law to require every electric corporation to create and maintain a dedicated priority phone number, available every day of the year, for customers who have documented a medical need for essential electricity. Utilities would have to publicize that number through bill inserts, email, and their websites, and provide information to help existing customers confirm or maintain their registration as medically dependent customers.
The bill also requires that customers be able to use the priority line at any time, including before or during an outage, to register their medical need, get storm and emergency information, report outages, obtain restoration estimates and outage maps, receive safety guidance, learn about dry ice, charging and cooling locations, and access information about spoiled food and medication claims. It further directs utilities to provide information about possible restoration prioritization, backup generators, lodging compensation, and transportation to a hospital or facility capable of powering life-saving equipment, if such information is available through commission rulemaking or utility programs.
The bill would add new consumer-protection and emergency-communication obligations for electric corporations under section 66 of the Public Service Law. It would not directly change eligibility for medical-need status, but it would require utilities to create a specific access channel and expand the information they must provide to customers who rely on electricity for medical equipment or other essential medical needs. The measure would affect electric utilities, medically vulnerable customers, and potentially emergency response and outage-notification practices statewide.
The available voting history suggests generally favorable support for the bill in committee, with strong majorities advancing it from the Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee and then the Assembly Codes Committee. The absence of recorded opposition in the bill text or transcripts limits insight into broader debate, but the committee votes indicate the proposal was viewed positively as a consumer and public-safety measure.
The main points of possible contention are operational and cost-related: utilities may need to create and staff a dedicated 24/7 priority line, update customer-notification systems, and coordinate outage and emergency information more actively. There may also be questions about how customers document medical need, how the priority line interacts with existing utility customer-service channels, and whether the bill’s references to restoration prioritization, backup generators, lodging compensation, and transportation depend on future commission rulemaking or utility discretion. Supporters are likely to emphasize protection for medically vulnerable customers, while any opposition would likely focus on implementation burden and compliance costs for electric corporations.