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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
07/10/2024 03:28 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20230&chamber=H&cosponId=38991
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House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: December 27, 2022 02:43 PM
From: Representative Brett R. Miller
To: All House members
Subject: Notification to Landlords Before Utility Service Termination
 
In the near future I will re-introduce legislation (HB 2606 of 2021-22) that will amend Title 66 (Public Utilities) to require a public utility to notify a landlord when utilities are being terminated due to lack of payment by the tenant. This bill passed out of the House Consumer Affairs Committee but did not advance prior to the end of session.

A constituent who owned property informed me that tenants had inconspicuously moved out of his leased rental property. After discovering this, the landlord inspected the property and found that the electric had been shut off resulting in extensive damage to the property. The landlord contacted the electric company and was informed that the tenants had not paid the electric bill for several months, which resulted in the termination of electric service to the property. This, in turn, led to the extensive damage to the property as the basement used sump pumps in order to prevent ground water from flooding the finished basement. Upon asking why the electric supplier did not notify him that power was terminated, the electric company stated that they were under no obligation to inform property owners, only account holders. The resulting repair costs caused significant financial impact to the landlord due to the cost of the repairs and the loss of rental income during repairs.

Current law only requires the utility to notify the account holder, but not the property owner, of service termination. This legislation will give property owners the option of notifying the utility that they are the owner of record and that they want to be notified in the event the lessee does not pay the utility and shut-off is imminent.

Prior co-sponsors include: B. MILLER, BOBACK, ROWE, SCHLEGEL CULVER, HENNESSEY, COX, MILLARD, JAMES, JONES, NEILSON, STAATS, ZIMMERMAN, DeLUCA, CIRESI AND GILLEN.

Please join me in sponsoring this legislation to ensure that property owners are given fair notification to prevent severe and possibly irreparable damage to their properties.


Introduced as HB1341