WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2024 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 4925

By Delegate Young and Pushkin

[Introduced January 19, 2024; Referred to the Committee on Technology and Infrastructure]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-2-17a, relating to requiring that utility providers instigate text communications concerning utility outages.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article 2. powers and Duties of the Public Service commission.

§24-2-17a. Notification of utility outage.

(a) In addition to the expectations of §24-2-17 of this code, all public, private, and investor-owned utilities shall provide text notifications to customers when there is an outage either in progress or expected. This text shall contain the following information:

(1) That the service has been interrupted; and

(2) The estimated length of time, measured in 30-minute increments, that the service will be interrupted; and

(3) The areas affected by the outage using city, county, and state lines.

(b) This expectation shall become effective on July 1, 2024.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that utility providers instigate text communications concerning utility outages.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.