§ 56.17. Advance payments.
Payments may be required in advance of furnishing any of the following services:
(1) Seasonal service.
(2) The construction of facilities and furnishing of special equipment.
(3) Gas and electric rendered through prepayment meters provided:
(i) The customer is nonlow income. For purposes of this section, ‘‘nonlow income’’ is defined as an individual who has an annual household gross income greater than 150% of the Federal poverty income guidelines and has a delinquency for which the individual is requesting a payment arrangement but offering terms that the public utility, after consideration of the factors in § 56.97(b) (relating to procedures upon customer or occupant contact prior to termination), finds unacceptable.
(ii) The service is being rendered to an individually-metered residential dwelling, and the customer and occupants are the only individuals affected by the installation of a prepayment meter.
(iii) The customer and public utility enter into a payment arrangement which includes, but is not limited to, the following terms:
(A) The customer voluntarily agrees to the installation of a prepayment meter.
(B) The customer agrees to purchase prepayment credits to maintain service until the total balance is retired and the public utility agrees to make new credits available to the customer within 5 days of receipt of prepayment.
(C) The public utility agrees to furnish the customer with emergency backup credits for additional usage of at least 5 days.
(D) The customer agrees that failure to renew the credits by making prepayment for additional service constitutes a request for discontinuance under § 56.72(1) (relating to discontinuance of service), except during a medical emergency, and that discontinuance will occur when the additional usage on the emergency backup credits runs out.
(iv) The public utility develops a written plan for a prepayment meter program, consistent with the criteria established in this section, and submits the plan to the Commission at least 30 days in advance of the effective date of the program.
(v) During the first 2 years of use of prepayment meters, the public utility thoroughly and objectively evaluates the use of prepayment meters in accordance with the following:
(A) Content. The evaluation should include both process and impact components. Process evaluation should focus on whether the use of prepayment meters conforms to the program design and should assess the degree to which the program operates efficiently. The impact evaluation should focus on the degree to which the program achieves the continuation of public utility service to participants at reasonable cost levels. The evaluation should include an analysis of the costs and benefits of traditional collections or alternative collections versus the costs and benefits of handling nonlow income positive ability to pay customers through prepayment metering. This analysis should include comparisons of customer payment behavior, energy consumption, administrative costs and actual collection costs.
(B) Time frame. The process evaluation should be undertaken during the middle of the first year; the impact evaluation at least by the end of the second year.
(4) Temporary service for short-term use, including installation and removal, with credit for reasonable salvage.
Authority The provisions of this § 56.17 amended under the Public Utility Code, 66 Pa.C.S. § § 331, 501, 504, 1301, 1304, 1401—1419, 1501, 1504, 1509 and 2911.
Source The provisions of this § 56.17 adopted June 16, 1978, effective June 17, 1978, 8 Pa.B. 1655; amended April 8, 1983, effective April 9, 1983, 13 Pa.B. 1250; amended January 13, 1995, effective April 14, 1995, 25 Pa.B. 145; amended October 7, 2011, effective October 8, 2011, 41 Pa.B. 5473; amended May 31, 2019, effective June 1, 2019, 49 Pa.B. 2815. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (358952) to (358953).
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