H. B. 4452
(By Delegates Perdue, Browning, Hunt, Hatfield,
Stephens, Brown, Boggs, Barker, Louisos,
Eldridge and Hrutkay)
[Introduced February 7, 2006; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §24-3-10, relating to
requiring utility bills
to include a clear description of each
charge listed on the bill
.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-3-10, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF PUBLIC UTILITIES SUBJECT TO
REGULATIONS OF COMMISSION.
§24-3-10. Information on utility bills.
Every utility subject to the provisions of this chapter shall
provide to its customers a billing statement which includes the
following:
(1) A brief, clear and conspicuous description of the product
or service provided by the utility and the amount charged for each product or service, including taxes and surcharges;
(2) The description must be sufficiently clear in presentation
and specific enough in content so that customers can accurately
assess that the product or service for which they are billed
corresponds to those that they have requested and received, and
that the costs assessed for the product or service conforms to
their understanding of the price charged; and
(3) A toll-free number or other phone number by which
customers may inquire or dispute any charge contained on the bill
must be
clearly and conspicuously displayed on each bill.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require utility bills to
include a clear description of each charge listed on the bill.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.