H. B. 2601
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss and Delegates Varner,
Pethtel, Kominar, Stemple, Beach and Leach)
[Introduced February 23, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §24-2A-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to electric utilities generally;
and providing for equivalent residential rates for certain
community organizations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-2A-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. REDUCED RATES FOR LOW-INCOME RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS OF
ELECTRICITY AND GAS.
§24-2A-1. Special rates for gas and electric utility customers
receiving Social Security Supplemental Security
Income (SSI), Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC), Aid to Families with Dependent
Children--Unemployed (AFDC-U) or food stamps;
residential equivalent electric utility rates for certain community organizations.
The commission shall order each gas and electric utility
subject to its jurisdiction, except municipal or cooperative gas or
electric utilities, to offer special reduced rates applicable to
gas and electric service for the billing months of December,
January, February, March and April of each year (beginning with the
billing month of December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three),
to residential utility customers receiving (a) social security
supplemental security income (SSI), (b) aid to families with
dependent children (AFDC), (c) aid to families with dependent
children-- unemployed (AFDC-U), or (d) food stamps, if such food
stamp recipients are sixty years of age or older. The special
reduced rate offered by each gas and electric utility to its
eligible customers shall be twenty percent less than the rate which
would be applicable to such customers if they were not receiving
any of the four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for
the special reduced rates. A customer of a utility offering
special reduced rates shall be eligible to receive such rates for
each of the billing months of December, January, February, March
and April that correlates to a calendar month during which that
customer is eligible to participate in one or more of the
qualifying programs specified in this section, except as otherwise
provided in this section. The correlation of billing months to
calendar months of eligibility to participate in a qualifying program is as follows: A December billing month correlates to
the calendar month of November; a January billing month correlates
to the calendar month of December; a February billing month
correlates to the calendar month of January; a March billing month
correlates to the calendar month of February; and an April billing
month correlates to the calendar month of March. After the billing
month of April, one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, no customer
shall be eligible to receive the special reduced rates until the
billing month in which that customer applies for such rates. For
the billing months of December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-
three, and January, February, March and April, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-four, a customer shall be eligible to receive a
utility's special reduced rates for any of said billing months
which correlates to a calendar month during which that customer is
eligible to participate in one or more of the qualifying programs
specified in this section, regardless of the date on which that
customer applies for such rates: Provided, That the date of
application falls on or prior to the fifteenth day of May, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-four. No customer who applies for the
special reduced rates after the fifteenth day of May, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-four shall be eligible to receive such rates
for any of the billing months of December, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-three or January, February, March or April, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-four. Before any individual may qualify to receive the special reduced rates, the following
requirements must be met:
(a) The special reduced rates shall apply only to current
customers or to those persons who subsequently become customers in
their own right. If an SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp recipient
is living in a household which is served under the name of a person
who is not an SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp recipient, that
service may not be changed or have been changed subsequent to the
twelfth day of March, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three, to
the name of the SSI, AFDC, AFDC-U or food stamp recipient in order
to qualify for service under the special reduced rates.
(b) The burden of proving eligibility for the special reduced
rates shall be on the customer requesting such rates. The
Department of Health and Human Services shall establish by rules
and regulations procedures: (1) To inform persons receiving any of
the four forms of assistance which confer eligibility for the
special reduced rates about the availability of the special reduced
rates; (2) to assist applicants for the special reduced rates in
proving their eligibility therefor; and (3) to assist gas and
electric utilities offering the special reduced rates in
determining on a continuing basis the eligibility therefor of
persons receiving or applying for such rates. The commission shall
establish by rules and regulations procedures for the application
for and provision of service under the special reduced rates and for the determination and certification of revenue deficiencies
resulting from the special reduced rates. Within ten days of the
effective date of this article, the commission and the Department
of Health and Human Services shall adopt temporary rules and
regulations, as required by this section, which rules and
regulations shall not be subject to the requirements of chapter
twenty-nine-a and section seven, article one of chapter twenty-four
except that they shall be filed with the Secretary of State and
published in the state register. These temporary rules and
regulations shall remain in effect until supplanted by permanent
rules and regulations, which shall be adopted by the commission and
the Department of Health and Human services within one hundred
eighty days of the effective date of this article. No customer who
is a recipient of more than one of the four forms of assistance
which confer eligibility for the special reduced rates shall be
eligible for more than one twenty percent discount for gas service
and one twenty percent discount for electric service during each
billing month that said customer is eligible to receive the special
reduced rates.
(c) In order to provide each eligible residential utility
customer the special reduced rates for the billing months of
December, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three, through April,
one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, (hereinafter referred to as
the first special-reduced-rate season), each utility providing the special reduced rates shall credit against the amount otherwise
owed by each customer an amount equal to the difference between the
total amount that each such customer was actually billed during the
first special-reduced-rate season and the total amount that each
customer would have been entitled to be billed under the special
reduced rates. Each such credit shall be fully reflected on the
first bill issued to each such customer after approval of each such
customer's application for the special reduced rates, except in
cases where the interval between the approval and the issuance of
the next bill is so short that it is administratively impracticable
to do so, in which cases such credits shall be fully reflected on
the second bill issued to each such customer after approval of that
customer's application. If the interval between the approval and
the issuance of the next bill is fifteen days or more, it shall not
be deemed administratively impracticable to reflect such credit on
the customer's first such bill.
Any public utility company supplying electric service shall,
upon application, permit a volunteer fire company, a nonprofit
rescue squad or ambulance service or a nonprofit senior citizen
center to elect to have its electric service rendered pursuant to
a rate schedule which provides equivalent charges for such service
as residential rates upon execution of a contract for a minimum
term of one year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for equivalent
residential electric utility rates upon application by certain
community organizations including volunteer fire companies, rescue
squads, ambulance service and nonprofit senior citizen centers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.