NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9438
SPONSOR: Dinowitz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general business law, in relation to the requirement
to include a comparison of prices charged by energy services companies
on a customer's billing statement; and to amend a chapter of the laws of
2025 amending the general business law relating to requiring comparison
of prices charged by energy services companies, as proposed in legisla-
tive bills numbers S. 3876 and A. 3875, in relation to the effectiveness
thereof
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to protect Energy Service Company (ESCO)
customers and ensure greater transparency.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one makes technical and clarifying changes related to the defi-
nition of "customer" and what specific utility services must be
compared. Section one also ensures that ESCOs are responsible for any
compliance costs incurred by the local utility company.
Section two clarifies that the Public Service Commission is empowered to
immediately initiate actions necessary to implement the underlying chap-
ter.
Section three of the bill establishes the effective date. JUSTIFICATION:
Chapter 685 of the Laws of 2025 required ESCOs to provide customers with
a side-by-side comparison of the ESCO's energy service charges versus
what they would have been charged had they received energy services from
their local utility. To protect ratepayers, this chapter amendment also
provides technical and clarifying changes to ensure that any costs asso-
ciated with such comparison are borne by the ESCO.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided that section one of
this act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a
chapter of the laws of 2025 amending the general business law relating
to requiring comparison of prices charged by energy services companies,
as proposed in legislative bills numbers S.3876 and A.3875, takes
effect.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9438
IN ASSEMBLY
January 6, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Energy
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to the requirement
to include a comparison of prices charged by energy services companies
on a customer's billing statement; and to amend a chapter of the laws
of 2025 amending the general business law relating to requiring
comparison of prices charged by energy services companies, as proposed
in legislative bills numbers S. 3876 and A. 3875, in relation to the
effectiveness thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 9 and 10 of section 349-d of the general busi-
2 ness law, subdivision 9 as amended and subdivision 10 as added by a
3 chapter of the laws of 2025 amending the general business law relating
4 to requiring comparison of prices charged by energy services companies,
5 as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 3876 and A. 3875, are
6 amended and a new subdivision 10-a is added to read as follows:
7 9. (a) The first page of each billing statement from an ESCO delivered
8 to the customer, [either] whether by the ESCO directly [or], by a utili-
9 ty corporation, by a municipality, or by any other method, shall include
10 a side-by-side comparison showing both the price charged by the ESCO for
11 commodity [and] service and the price charged to the customer for deliv-
12 ery service during the prior billing period, and the price the customer
13 would have paid had [they] the customer taken both commodity and deliv-
14 ery service from their local utility corporation or municipality, as
15 applicable. Such statement shall also include, separately and apart from
16 the price charged by the ESCO for commodity service and the price
17 charged to the customer for delivery service, an itemized list of prices
18 charged by the ESCO for any energy-related value-added products provided
19 by the ESCO during the prior billing period.
20 (b) For the purposes of this subdivision and subdivision ten of this
21 section, "customer" shall mean a person receiving residential utility
22 service from an ESCO or a small non-residential customer, as that term
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07240-04-6
A. 9438 2
1 is defined in section sixty-six-w of the public service law, receiving
2 utility service from an ESCO.
3 10. Every twelve months, an ESCO shall provide each of its customers
4 with a statement comparing the price charged by the ESCO for commodity
5 [and delivery services] service, the price charged to the customer for
6 delivery service and any other energy-related value-added products
7 charged to the customer as a customer of the ESCO over the prior twelve-
8 month period with the price such customer would have paid had [they]
9 such customer taken both commodity and delivery service from [their] the
10 local utility corporation or municipality, as applicable, for such peri-
11 od. Such statement shall convey such information in a manner that unam-
12 biguously conveys whether the customer is saving money or paying a
13 premium for service from the ESCO over such period.
14 10-a. (a) ESCOs shall be responsible for any costs incurred by a util-
15 ity corporation or municipality to comply with subdivisions nine and ten
16 of this section, and any such costs incurred by a utility corporation or
17 municipality shall be recoverable from the ESCO, in a manner prescribed
18 by the public service commission. ESCOs shall not recover any costs from
19 customers related to compliance with subdivisions nine and ten of this
20 section.
21 (b) For the purposes of this subdivision, "customer" shall mean a
22 person receiving energy service from an ESCO.
23 § 2. Section 2 of a chapter of the laws of 2025 amending the general
24 business law relating to requiring comparison of prices charged by ener-
25 gy services companies, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 3876
26 and A. 3875, is amended to read as follows:
27 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
28 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
29 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
30 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made or
31 initiated by the public service commission on or before such date.
32 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that section one
33 of this act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as
34 a chapter of the laws of 2025 amending the general business law relating
35 to requiring comparison of prices charged by energy services companies,
36 as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 3876 and A. 3875, takes
37 effect.
