In the fall of 2015, Governor Cuomo signed a bill into law intended to make it easier for municipalities to purchase their street light systems from the utility. The law requires that utilities amend their street light tariffs to provide a clear, transparent process for the transfer of ownership. The utilities have filed proposed tariff amendments to comply with the new law, and CLP, on behalf of the Consortium, filed comments in these proceedings aimed at making sure that communities get a fair deal when purchasing their street lights, and that the process of transferring these systems is standardized and that made transparent to municipalities.
The Ulster County Association of Town Supervisors and Village Mayors signed on to these comments for Central Hudson’s tariff filing. The MHSC also filed comments on the O&R and NYSEG proposals. You can find the comments for your utility’s tariff proceeding here, as well as the proposed tariff amendments by municipalities: Central Hudson (Case 15-E-0745), Orange and Rockland (Case 15-E-0749), NYSEG (Case 15-E-0746). The final tariffs will be filed on July 1, 2016.
What is a utility tariff, you might ask? It is the document containing your utility’s rules, policies, and schedule of rates, and must be approved by the PSC for the purpose of ensuring that they are fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory. All utility tariffs are available here on the NYS DPS website.