Utilities: Restoring Service in
Serious Illness Cases
Massachusetts law requires that gas and electric companies shall not shut off or "fail to restore" utility service when there is a serious illness in the household and the household has a financial hardship in paying the bills.
A question that arises is what that "fail to restore" language really means. The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) has asked the Department of Public utilities to provide guidance on this question: how long after the termination can the customer assert serious illness protection and financial hardship as a means to get service restored? The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) Consumer Division has confirmed that they have spoken to companies about restoration of terminated service upon receipt of a serious illness letter and have issued this informal guidance (this is not a formal regulation):
Upon receipt of a serious illness letter (and the financial hardship form), companies should be willing to restore terminated service for up to 3 months after the service was terminated. Additionally, if there are unusual facts or circumstances, the Consumer Division might be willing to order service restored for up to 6 months after the termination.
Please let NCLC know if companies don't follow this guidance.
National Consumer Law Center
- From: ”Serious illness letters/restoring servive (sic)”, post to utility network listserv, Charlie Harak, NCLC, February 25, 2010, and “Serious illness letters/restoration of service” post to utility network listserv, Charlie Harak, NCLC, April 30, 2010.
7 Winthrop Sq., 4th flr.
Boston, MA 02110
617-542-8010
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