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Please be aware that the the Pennsylvania PUC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) Re: Amendments to Provisions of 52 Pa. Code, Chapter 56 to address utility bill practices for residential utility services.

This NOPR  will be published in the May 30, 2026 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

This will initiate the start of the 60-day comment period; with reply comments due in 90-days.Please see ordering paragraphs No. 7 and 8 for instructions on filing comments.   See ordering paragraph No. 9 for contact information.

From the NOPR:

“In anticipation of the sunset of the former Chapter 14, the Public Utility Commission (PUC or Commission) entered a Statement of Policy on December 24, 2024, at Docket No. M-2024-3052328, to provide certainty to public utilities, consumers, and affected stakeholders regarding, inter alia, payment arrangements and public utility service terminations. We now propose to amend our regulations at 52 Pa. Code Chapter 56 to incorporate provisions of the former Chapter 14 of the Code, as it was in effect prior to its sunset, including those currently being followed by the Commission via its Statement of Policy. The proposed modifications to the existing regulations and proposed new regulations are contained in the attached Annex. The PUC seeks comments on the proposed regulations set forth in the accompanying Annex consistent with this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) Order.”

“[I]n this NOPR Order, we propose to amend the Commission’s Chapter 56 regulations to incorporate the provisions of the former Chapter 14 of the Code. We also propose minor ministerial revisions to the Chapter 56 regulations in line with these amendments. In particular, we propose:

•  Modifying the existing title of Subchapter A to eliminate the reference to the former Chapter 14 and replace it with appropriate language;
•  Modifying the existing regulation at Section 56.2 (relating to definitions) to incorporate two definitions formerly found in Section 1403 of the Code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1403;
•  Modifying the existing regulation at Section 56.22 (relating to accrual or late payment charges) to incorporate language regarding the waiver of improperly assessed late payment charges formerly found in Section 1409 of the Code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1409, and eliminate a citation to the former Section 1409;
•  Creating a new regulation at Section 56.102 to incorporate the residential field visit charge for a city natural gas distribution operation formerly found in Section 1414(b) of the Code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1414(b);
•  Creating a new regulation at Section 56.153 to incorporate certain public utility duties regarding customer or applicant contact for payment arrangements formerly found in Section 1410.1 of the Code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1410.1;
•  Modifying the existing regulation at Section 56.171 (relating to general rule) to incorporate certain language regarding public utility contact prior to the filing of certain formal complaints formerly found in Section 1410 of the Code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1410, and modifying the title of this section;
•  Modifying the existing regulation at Section 56.181 (relating to duties of parties; disputing party’s duty to pay undisputed portions of bills; public utility’s duty to pay interest whenever overpayment found) to incorporate language regarding the obligation to pay subsequent bills which are not in dispute formerly found in Section 1410 of the Code;
•  Creating a new regulation at Section 56.182 to incorporate the payment arrangement procedures formerly found in Section 1405(a)—(e) of the Code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1405(a)—(e), and modifying the existing heading under which this section falls;
•  Creating a new regulation at Section 56.225 to incorporate the prohibition against surcharges for uncollectible expenses formerly found in Section 1408 of the code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1408; and
•  Modifying the existing regulation at Section 56.251 (relating to statement of purposes and policy) to eliminate a reference to the former Section 1417 of the Code, previously codified at 66 Pa.C.S. § 1417.”

“These proposed modifications to the existing regulations and proposed new regulations are discussed in detail below and contained in the attached Annex.”

Link to the Pennsylvania Bulletin.