Right to a deferred payment plan. Before the utility shutdown, most states require you to be informed of the possibility of preventing the shutdown and paying your overdue bills through an appropriate payment plan, often over six months or less. In times of major crisis (such as a public health pandemic or natural disaster), government utility commissions may require regulated utilities to offer longer payment plans (e.g., 12 months). It is recommended that you inform the utility if your inability to pay your utility bill is related to circumstances arising from a crisis, as this may trigger additional protections. A private utility company can be sued. However, the person bringing the action cannot claim mere negligence. In other words, the person suing cannot claim that the train is “slow” on certain days. To recover a public service, a customer must prove that the delivery of the public service was gross negligence. In other words, the customer must prove that the quality of service was so poor that it was completely outside the customer`s reasonable expectations. Utilities can also be sued by customers for intentional misconduct. Customers can file complaints about their utility`s performance with their local public service commission, which in turn can order site-specific improvements or broader grid resilience efforts, said Joel B. Eisen, a professor of energy law at the University of Richmond. This means that if you`re trying to pursue a CPUC-regulated utility, you may find that laws tend to favor the agency over the consumer.
You`ll need an experienced Los Angeles public services attorney to help you with your claim and make sure the right parties are identified and named in your claim. If the utility does not comply with the termination rules, you should be able to terminate the termination or restore the service, at least temporarily, and possibly even sue for damages. Report it to your public procurement board, either in the consumer department or in the service of the board that deals with the particular type of service, such as gas or electricity. The Commission has a lot of influence on the benefits. The consumer department of a procurement commission responds to phone calls, letters and visits from private customers. Many of these complaints are resolved informally through consultations between the consumer service and the public service. Consumer services may also hold hearings on complaints that cannot be resolved informally. This guide is designed to give you information about your electricity rights in Texas. If you or someone you know has been the victim of a utility accident that resulted in a wildfire or gas leak, you may be able to get financial compensation for the following: If it doesn`t work, you may need to go to a lawyer or your attorney general`s office or a local community action program. For a local community action programme, see communityactionpartnership.com/find-a-cap/. Some states have a consumer advocate or rate assessment advisor who may be able to help you. You can find your state consumer protection office here: www.nasuca.org/members/.
However, you should be aware that in many states, the consumer advocate, tariff consultant, and attorney general`s office may not be able to help individual consumers. Public services have a duty to ensure the safety of people living in the areas where they operate, and if they fail to do so, they can endanger the health and lives of millions of people. Gas, electricity, water and other utilities are not allowed to inform you of their mistakes; It`s up to you to know your legal rights. Bankruptcy can prevent or reinstate termination. While it`s rarely a good idea to declare bankruptcy simply because of your utility bills, you may have other financial issues that make you want to consider bankruptcy. The simple filing of your bankruptcy automatically stops any shutdown and forces the public service to restore the service for at least twenty days. The utility will not be able to terminate the service before the expiration of this twenty-day period if you do not pay the bills incurred after filing for bankruptcy. If you have suffered health problems, financial setbacks, or other bodily injury as a result of the negligence of a utility, you may be able to make a legal claim, either as an individual or through a class action.