N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 16 § 609.2

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 45, November 2, 2024

Section 609.2 - Applicability of rules

Notwithstanding any other commission rule or order to the contrary, this Part governs the provision of residential service as defined herein and the rights, duties and obligations of every telephone corporation subject to the jurisdiction of the commission by virtue of article 5 of the Public Service Law with respect to such service, their residential customers and applicants for residential service.

(a) Residential service is basic local exchange service furnished in private homes or apartments, including all parts of the subscriber's domestic establishment, for domestic use and not for substantial occupational use; in the study of a clergyman located in a church, in college fraternity or sorority houses, college dormitories, convents and monasteries for domestic rather than occupational use in residential quarters.

(b) The term existing residential customer, when used in this Part, shall include any person who is supplied directly by a telephone corporation with residential service at a dwelling for his or her residential use pursuant to an application for service made by such person or a third party on his or her behalf. The term includes a person requesting such service who was a customer of the same telephone corporation within 12 months of making the request, who was not terminated for nonpayment more than 10 days before making the request, and who may move to a different dwelling within the telephone corporation's service territory.

(c) The term applicant, when used in this Part, shall include any person who does not qualify as an existing residential customer and who requests basic local exchange service at a dwelling for his or her residential use or the residential use by another person.

(d) The term reportable charges shall mean any charges for local service which are unpaid 45 days from the date of the bill for the charges, provided that the bill was mailed within six business days of the date of the bill. Charges which are the subject of a deferred payment agreement under which the customer is making the agreed upon payments are not reportable charges; failure to make an agreed upon payment shall make the entire unpaid balance of the deferred payment agreement a reportable charge. Charges which are the subject of a pending billing dispute pursuant to section 609.16 of this Part are not reportable charges during the pendency of the dispute or for 15 days after its resolution.

(e) The term basic local exchange service shall include the following charges for residential service:

(1) customer access line, including any usage bundled in this charge;

(2) local measured service;

(3) local measured units;

(4) locality rates;

(5) mileage;

(6) late payment charges on local exchange service;

(7) subscriber line charge;

(8) taxes and surcharges prorated to reflect only the taxes and surcharges associated with local exchange service;

(9) nonpublished service;

(10) touchtone;

(11) local exchange service restoral charge;

(12) NSF check charge for local exchange service or any part of local exchange service;

(13) service order charge for local exchange service;

(14) construction charges for local exchange service; and

(15) intraLATA toll service and interregional calls unless intraLATA prescription is offered and selective intraLATA access is available.

(f) The term suspension shall mean the interruption of outgoing service only.

(g) The term termination shall mean the interruption of both incoming and outgoing service.

(h) The term seasonal customer shall mean a customer who applies for and receives service periodically each year, intermittently during the year, or at other irregular intervals.

(i) The term short-term customer shall mean a customer who requires service for a specified period of time that does not exceed one year.

(j) The terms deny or denied shall mean any determination, by a representative of a telephone corporation in response to an application for service, that service will not be initiated as requested.

(k) The term delinquent in payment shall mean a residential customer has not paid in full a duly rendered bill, or an agreed-upon partial payment, for basic local exchange service 25 days after the first day of the period for which the local service charge is being billed, or within a longer period agreed to by the utility. A residential customer who has not paid in full a bill, or an agreed- upon partial payment, for basic local exchange service in circumstances where disconnection for nonpayment is precluded under utility complaint procedures established under section 609.16 of this Part or commission complaint procedures under Part 11 of this Title, shall not be considered delinquent in payment. Nothing in this Part shall modify the commission's rules or orders applicable to the provision of telephone service to nonresidential customers.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 16 § 609.2