Revision: Dec. 2, 2019, 3:48 p.m.
HB 1396 - AS INTRODUCED
2020 SESSION
20-2132
10/06
HOUSE BILL 1396
AN ACT relative to notice required for the termination of service of a public utility.
SPONSORS: Rep. Ulery, Hills. 37
COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy
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ANALYSIS
This bill modifies the notice requirements for the termination of a customer's service provided by a public electric, gas, water, telephone, or other utility.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
20-2132
10/06
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty
AN ACT relative to notice required for the termination of service of a public utility.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Procedures for Termination of Certain Utility Services; Notice Required. Amend RSA 363-B:1, I to read as follows:
I. No public [gas or electric] utility, as defined in RSA 362:2, shall terminate any residential service without good cause and without providing the customer at least [10] 14 days' written notice of the utility company's intent to terminate service. The notification shall be sent by [regular] verified mail, as defined RSA 21:53, [or] posted on the customer's door in a solid envelope marked confidential and endorsed with the customer's name, as described in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692 et seq., or shall be delivered in person by hand, and shall inform the customer of the proposed date of termination, the reason for termination, and the provision in RSA 363-B:2 for questioning or contesting the reason for termination. No message of debt or termination of service shall be left on a telephone or cellular phone recording device. No discussion of debt shall be allowed to a third party as defined by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, other than to a state agency contacted by the customer.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2021.