Ensures energy services companies are subject to the same consumer protection regulations regarding unclaimed deposits and refunds currently facing utility companies.
Summary
This bill amends New York’s Abandoned Property Law to explicitly include energy services companies (ESCOs) alongside traditional utility companies in the rules governing unclaimed customer deposits, prepayments, and refunds. It defines ESCOs for purposes of the law and revises multiple sections so that deposits made to ESCOs, advance payments for service not furnished, and refunds of excess or increased charges are treated the same as comparable amounts held by gas, electric, steam, telephone, telegraph, and water utilities when they remain unclaimed for the required period.
The bill also requires ESCOs to follow the same annual notice, reporting, and remittance procedures that apply to utilities. That includes publishing notice of unclaimed property, filing affidavits of publication, submitting detailed reports to the state comptroller, and turning over abandoned property by the statutory deadline. The act takes effect on July 1 following enactment.
Impact
The bill expands the scope of the Abandoned Property Law by adding ESCOs to the list of entities subject to abandoned-property obligations for utility-related deposits and refunds. As a result, ESCO-held customer funds that go unclaimed for two years, or refunds that remain unclaimed for two years from the date payable, would be presumed abandoned and transferred to the state comptroller under the same framework already used for regulated utilities. ESCOs would also be subject to the same notice and reporting requirements, increasing compliance obligations and aligning consumer protections across energy providers.
Sentiment
The available voting history shows strong and unanimous support for the bill. It passed the Assembly Energy Committee, Assembly Rules Committee, Assembly floor, and Senate floor without any recorded dissenting votes. The absence of recorded opposition suggests broad agreement that the measure is a consumer-protection and administrative parity bill rather than a controversial policy change.
Contention
No committee transcript is available, and the recorded votes show no formal opposition. The likely policy issue underlying the bill is whether ESCOs should be treated identically to traditional utilities for abandoned-property purposes, including the administrative burden of reporting and remitting unclaimed funds. Support appears to favor equal consumer protections and consistency in state law, while any potential concern would center on added compliance requirements for ESCOs and the expansion of state oversight over their customer funds.
Same As
Ensures energy services companies are subject to the same consumer protection regulations regarding unclaimed deposits and refunds currently facing utility companies.
Ensures energy services companies are subject to the same consumer protection regulations regarding unclaimed deposits and refunds currently facing utility companies.
Directs certain unclaimed electric, gas, and water public utility deposits in Unclaimed Utility Deposits Trust Fund and societal charge revenues to be paid to Statewide nonprofit public utility assistance organizations meeting certain eligibility criteria.