HARRISBURG, Pa. — As temperatures outside drop, Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission (PUC) is taking action to protect families from having their utilities shut off during the coldest months.
The Commission voted 5-0 on Thursday to adopt an order that keeps utility consumer protections in place through the winter heating season and beyond.
“Protections from termination, the winter moratorium, rules about collections for utilities, those are all going to stay in place after January 1 thanks to proactive action on the part of the Commission," explained Nicole Luciano, Director of Policy for the Energy Association of Pennsylvania.
The move comes as Chapter 14 of the Public Utility Code is set to expire on December 31.
That’s because state lawmakers ended this session deadlocked, unable to come to an agreement to extend the law, which must be reauthorized every 10 years. It first passed in 2004 and was reauthorized in 2014.
Chapter 14 sets “rules of the road” for utility customers, companies and the PUC, which regulates the state’s utilities. It bans companies from shutting off customers’ utilities during the winter, among other safeguards.
Luciano calls the stalemate disappointing.
“We’re hopeful that next legislative session they’re going to take it back up, there’s already been a co-sponsorship memo to bring the parties back together and start over," she said. "I think now that the legislature knows how big of a deal this is, we can get something done.”
Rep. Rob Matzie (D-Beaver), who serves as Majority Chairman of the House Consumer Affairs Committee, introduced HB 1077 to attempt to reauthorize Chapter 14 utility shutoff protections. It passed the state House in October but died in the Senate.
He released the following statement to FOX43 on Thursday:
"I'm pleased that the Public Utility Commission has unanimously approved continuing the critical protections to prevent utility shutoffs. However, this is a temporary relief. These are essential services and we must reauthorize these consumer protections to ensure that no one is left in the cold as well as strengthen protections to provide more options to help consumers keep the power on.
House Democrats worked extremely hard to try to put these protections in place and I also reached out last year to jump start conversations with the Senate and stakeholders and had several meetings with all. While we were able to come to an agreement on many of the outstanding issues, unfortunately the issue was not finalized because of divided government.
I also had proactively reached out to the PUC earlier this year asking about worse case scenario of an expiration and was assured they could and would be able to handle and likely keep existing language as is in the form of temporary regulations, and that’s exactly what transpired. That said, House Democrats are committed to addressing this issue in the new legislative session."
FOX43 also reached out to Republicans for a statement but has not received any as of Dec. 12.
The Energy Association is hopeful a new year will mean a new chance for the law to be reauthorized.
“We want to be a resource for both the House and Senate, both Republicans and Democrats," said Luciano. "We’re here to show Chapter 14 has worked, it has helped to bring costs down for customers who are able to pay.”
State lawmakers will reconvene in Harrisburg on January 7.