Sec. 16-262j. Refusal of residential utility service. Regulations. Refusal of telecommunications service to a candidate or committee. Interest on customer security deposits. Deposit index. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 16-262j. Refusal of residential utility service. Regulations. Refusal of telecommunications service to a candidate or committee. Interest on customer security deposits. Deposit index. (a) No public service company and no electric supplier shall refuse to provide electric, gas or water service to a residential customer based on the financial inability of such customer to pay a security deposit for such service. The Department of Public Utility Control shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 to carry out the provisions of this subsection.

      (b) No telephone company and no certified telecommunications provider shall refuse to provide telecommunications service to a candidate or a committee, as defined in section 9-601, on the grounds that such candidate, such committee or the person acting on behalf of such committee has offered to pay the security deposit for such service with a credit card.

      (c) Each public service company, certified telecommunications provider and electric supplier shall pay interest on any security deposit it receives from a customer at the average rate paid, as of December 30, 1992, on savings deposits by insured commercial banks as published in the Federal Reserve Board bulletin and rounded to the nearest one-tenth of one percentage point, except in no event shall the rate be less than one and one-half per cent. On and after January 1, 1994, the rate for each calendar year shall be not less than the deposit index as defined in subsection (d) of this section for that year and rounded to the nearest one-tenth of one percentage point, except in no event shall the rate be less than one and one-half per cent.

      (d) The deposit index for each calendar year shall be equal to the average rate paid on savings deposits by insured commercial banks as last published in the Federal Reserve Board bulletin in November of the prior year. The Banking Commissioner shall determine the deposit index for each calendar year and publish such deposit index in the Department of Banking news bulletin no later than December fifteenth of the prior year. For purposes of this section, "Federal Reserve Board bulletin" means the monthly survey of selected deposits published as a special supplement to the Federal Reserve Statistical Release Publication H.6 published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or, if such bulletin is superseded or becomes unavailable, a substantially similar index or publication.

      (P.A. 79-329; P.A. 80-482, S. 4, 40, 345, 348; P.A. 83-178, S. 1, 2; P.A. 91-407, S. 34, 42; P.A. 93-242, S. 1, 2; P.A. 98-28, S. 64, 117; P.A. 99-222, S. 17, 19; P.A. 03-84, S. 15.)

      History: P.A. 80-482 made division of public utility control an independent department and deleted reference to division's being within abolished department of business regulation; P.A. 83-178 consolidated Subsecs. (a) and (b) into Subsec. (a) and added new Subsec. (b) requiring companies to pay interest on customer security deposits at legal rate; P.A. 91-407 inserted new Subsec. (b) prohibiting telephone company from refusing service to candidate or committee on grounds that security deposit was offered to be paid with a credit card, relettering former Subsec. (b) as (c); P.A. 93-242 amended Subsec. (c) by changing the interest rate on customer security deposits from the legal rate provided in Sec. 37-1 to, from July 1, 1993, to January 1, 1994, the average rate paid on savings deposits but not less than 1.5%, and, on and after January 1, 1994, not less than the deposit index, and added new Subsec. (d) defining the deposit index, effective July 1, 1993; (Revisor's note: In 1997 a reference in Subsec. (d) to "Banking Commissioner" was changed editorially by the Revisors to "Commissioner of Banking" for consistency with customary statutory usage); P.A. 98-28 added electric suppliers in Subsecs. (a) and (c), effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 99-222 amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) by adding "certified telecommunications provider", effective June 29, 1999; P.A. 03-84 changed "Commissioner of Banking" to "Banking Commissioner" in Subsec. (d), effective June 3, 2003.