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On July 16, the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has issued an Order Instituting Proceeding to review the practices and procedures associated with estimated billing among the state’s electric and gas utilities.

In a press release the Commission said, “[t]he proceeding will consider whether any modifications or improvements to the utilities’ practices and procedures may be needed and will examine the utilities’ actual practices when issuing estimated bills.”

The PSC said that the proceeding will also evaluate the impact of smart meters (Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)) and Automated Meter Reading (AMR) on the utilities’ reliance on and frequency of estimated billing.

The report will include the following elements:

• An examination of the utilities and municipalities’ policies and procedures for obtaining actual meter readings and relying on estimates of customer usage for billing;
• An examination of the barriers to obtaining actual meter reads and how the utilities and municipalities currently address such barriers;
• An analysis of the frequency of estimated billing and the root causes for it;
• An examination of how the utilities and municipalities ensure the accuracy of their records of the reason for failing to obtain an actual meter reading;
• A review of the prevalence of AMI or AMR in utility service territories and the impact of using such technology on the frequency of estimated billing;
• An examination of the adequacy and reasonableness of the methodologies the utilities use to calculate estimated bills;
• Recommendations for Commission consideration to improve the utilities’ policies, procedures, methodologies, and practices regarding obtaining actual meter readings and estimated billing; and
• An assessment of whether additional actions, limitations, consequences, refunds, or penalties are needed to address estimated billing.