COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4536
(By Delegate Amores)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 22, 2006]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §24-2E-2, relating
generally to improving competition among telephone public
utilities providing landline services; prohibiting telephone
public utilities from using automatic renewal provisions in
their landline customer services agreements; requiring notice
of the end of the service agreement; providing that after
initial term of landline customer services agreement the term
shall be on a month-to-month basis unless customer signs new
landline customer services agreement; limiting termination
fees charged by telephone public utilities for landline
service and providing method of computing termination fee;
specifying how this act applies to existing landline customer
services agreements, whether in their original term or in a
rollover term; and providing that act does not apply to services agreements between two telephone public utilities.
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 §24-2E-2, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2E. REQUIREMENTS FOR PHONE SERVICE SALES.
§24-2E-2. Telephone services agreements.
(a)
Prohibition on automatic renewals; length of services
agreements. -- No telephone public utility may include an automatic
renewal or rollover provision in its customer services agreement
except as provided in this section. All landline telephone
services agreements shall provide that at the end of the initial
term thereof, unless a new agreement is signed by the customer, the
term of the then existing telephone services agreement shall
thereafter be on a month to month basis. Two months prior to the
end of the term of a landline telephone service agreement, the
telephone public utility shall notify its customer, by separate,
first class mail, of date upon which the term the service agreement
will end.
(b)
Limitation on termination fees. -- No telephone public
utility may impose on any customer whose landline services
agreement is then on a month-to-month term a termination fee that
is greater than the charges for one month of service, which fee
shall be computed by averaging the charges for telephone services during the previous four months invoiced to the terminating
customer by the telephone public utility.
(c)
Services agreements already automatically renewed. -- A
landline telecommunications service agreement that, as of the
effective date of this section, contains an automatic renewal or
rollover provision deemed by the telephone public utility to have
automatically renewed prior to the effective date of this section,
shall remain in force and effect until the end of the applicable
renewal term, unless otherwise terminated in accordance with the
terms thereof:
Provided, That, unless a new agreement is signed by
the customer, at the expiration of the automatic renewal term, the
term of the then existing telephone services agreement shall
thereafter be on a month to month basis:
Provided, however, That a
customer who terminates the service agreement during the automatic
renewal term may not be charged a termination fee that exceeds the
amount of two months of service computed by averaging charges for
telephone services during the previous four months invoiced to the
terminating customer by the telephone public utility.
(d)
Limitation on applicability. -- The provisions of this
section do not apply to services agreements between one telephone
public utility and another telephone public utility.
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