AN AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE LAW REQUIRES UTILITY COMPANIES TO COMPENSATE CUSTOMERS FOR STORM-OUTAGE-RELATED LOSSES WHERE THE OUTAGE IS FOR 72 HOURS OR MORE AND PROHIBITS UTILITIES FROM RECOVERING THOSE COSTS FROM RATEPAYERS (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, affirming Supreme Court, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Fisher, determined that an amendment to the Public Service Law requires utilities to compensate customers for storm-outage-related losses when the outage lasts for 72 hours or more, and prohibits utilities from recovering those costs from ratepayers. The Third Department disagreed with Supreme Court and found this declaratory judgment action was ripe for judicial review, but affirmed Supreme Court’s dismissal of the petition. The opinion has a comprehensive discussion of statutory interpretation which is too detailed to fairly summarize here. Matter of Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v State of N.Y. Pub. Serv. Commission, 2025 NY Slip Op 03849, Third Dept 6-25-25