Committee releases bill to limit utility shutoffs during extreme heat and cold

The House Natural Resources and Energy Committee voted to release HS1, House Substitute 1 for HB 62, a bill that would restrict utility disconnections during certain hours and extreme temperatures and require expanded notice and contact attempts to customers, sponsor Representative Melanie Ross Levin said.

Representative Melanie Ross Levin, the bill sponsor, told the committee "Delawareans are seeing skyrocketing energy costs. Many are in danger of not being able to pay." She said the measure codifies and updates Public Service Commission regulations written in the early 2000s and makes eight principal changes intended to reduce health and safety risks from disconnections.

The bill's principal provisions, as described by the sponsor, include prohibiting utility terminations outside 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday; banning termination of heating service when the temperature is at or below 35 degrees Fahrenheit; banning termination of cooling service when the heat index is at or above 90 degrees; requiring a 14-day written notice before termination during heating or cooling seasons; requiring utilities to attempt contact at least three times (including one attempt after 5 p.m.) and to use a customer’s preferred contact method; requiring the 14-day notice to include information about payment plans and government assistance programs; prohibiting disconnections between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1; and extending the protections to municipal electric companies.

Ross Levin said the bill originally included a provision preventing shutoffs for customers receiving certain social-welfare benefits (she cited LIHEAP, TANF…