5-Bill Submetering Package Unveiled at East Side Submetering Summit
May 18, 2009
Last fall the residents of the Eastwood complex on Roosevelt Island were informed by their landlord, Urban American, of an application to the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) to convert their building to submetered electricity.
Submetering is when tenants are billed individually for their unit’s electrical usage rather than the landlord. In 1951, the PSC prohibited all residential electric submetering, calling the practice “parasitic.” Now, the practice of submetering is again allowed by the PSC on a case by case basis, creating a host of new problems.
For Eastwood, I was skeptical from the get-go that a 33-year-old building with a baseboard electric heating system, energy-inefficient appliances, faulty thermostats, and a host of other issues, could establish a submetering scheme that wouldn’t result in a de facto massive rent increase that prices families out of their homes. However laudable the environmental goals of submetering, it doesn’t always make sense. In order for submetering to result in cost-savings and energy conservation, tenants need to be able to have the tools to conserve electricity. This is simply not possible in a building like Eastwood. I requested that two months of sample billing be sent to residents prior to the start of actual billing. Those bills were alarming bills over $200 to as high as over $1000 were not uncommon for all unit sizes. Soon after I petitioned the Public Service Commission to stay the submetering order and re-hear the landlord’s application. That re-hearing is on-going.
In the meantime, I made it my mission to find out what went wrong, and on a legislative level, work with advocates for residential rental tenants, like the Public Utilities Law Project (PULP) to find legislative solutions. Earlier this month, these efforts came to fruition with the introduction of a five-bill package, which I unveiled at a submetering summit on May 16th that was organized by the Waterside Tenants Association. If you missed the opportunity to attend that panel, you can still listen to the audio recording of Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh and I discussing the legislative solutions we are pursuing in Albany to better balance the rights of tenants with the environmental goals of submetering.
Listen to Audio from Submetering Panel (5/16/09)
I have introduced five bills, along with State Senator Bill Perkins, to reform the practice of submetering utility services to residential rental tenants.
A.7353
Bans the deeming of utility charges as rent. More and more, tenants are finding themselves in situations where landlords are taking them to court for eviction because they can’t afford to pay their electric bill. This legislation bans that practice.
A.7354a
Prohibits landlords from submetering for the heating of living quarters. It is well established under the law that landlords are legally required to provide heat to rental tenants—when a building’s heat is electric, submetering undermines this. Also, electric heat is incredibly inefficient, and a tenant can do little to control their costs meaning that the submetering of electric heat represents an undue burden on the tenant.
A.7814
Requires the PSC to perform an audit of submetering orders issued in the last five years to determine compliance to utility price caps, tenant protections, and to determine if there has been an actual energy savings. We have know way of really knowing whether or not the energy-savings that submetering is supposed to bring are really happening, nor do we know if landlords are complying with price controls and respecting tenant protections in submetering orders. Requiring the PSC to undergo an audit of the last five years of submetering orders will shed light on the situation and help determine the way forward. When this bill is passed, no new submetering orders will be allowed for one year, the same amount of time the PSC has to complete the audit and submit it to the governer and the legislature.
A.7867
Requires utility customers to be provided with an annual notice stating their right to access the PSC’s complaints process. Too often, landlords and the PSC itself will divert a tenant with a grievance against their submetering utility (the landlord in these cases) to the court system. Courts should be a last resort, and the law already provides for a grievance and resolution process through the PSC. Tenants need and deserve a straight-forward way to have issues addressed; diverting tenants to court discourages the reporting of problems and creates too much of a burden on tenants to get their issues addressed. This bill ensures they are informed of their legal rights.
A.7871
Reforms the submetering application process; creates the requirement of written notification to the tenant when the application is first filed, a formal comment period, a public hearing, requires the landlord to replace all landlord-provided appliances that are not Energy-Star rated with ones that are, and requires that the landlord include in their application the results of a study detailing the thermal characteristics of the building. The bill also establishes a conditional approval phase which lasts one year, after which time the PSC must review billing to ensure that energy savings and billing is appropriate and doesn’t create an undue burden to rental tenants. As well, if tenants provide three bids for an independent energy analysis, the landlord must pay for one.
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2 Responses to “5-Bill Submetering Package Unveiled at East Side Submetering Summit”
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The heat during the winter months is not adequate and sometimes I have to heat my apart with the stove. Also I’m a single parent with two children my rent is $1218.00 a month which I’m struggling to pay now. I received a sample bill for almost $450. There’s no way I can afford this without having to get another job. I moved to Roosevelt Island because I felt it was a nice place to raise children and at that time the rent was affordable. I think the landlord is trying for force out the minorities in order to charge market rate prices for these apartments. Soon there not going to be a place for working class people to live. All over the city I see these buildings put up that are catered to rich people. I say that because the rents are astronomical. What about us? Where do we live? I applied for an apartment in one of the new buildings…..it’s been about three years and I’m still on the waiting list however the building is half full. I don’t understand it.
Thank you Micah Kellner and his office for trying to help us hard working citizens. I have a 1 bedroom and received a heating bill of $438. I cannot see paying for heat when my apartment is always cold. I don’t even get hot water in the morning between the hours of 4 am - 6:30 am when I am up getting ready for work. I have to heat the water in order to bath. I have been to maintence and complained to the landloard in a letter with my rent. Maintenance tried it worked for 1 day then it was cold or cool again. Ever since the new management nothing has worked right here. I called 311 and complained. They came to my apartment on the day President Obama got in office about 1 pm. I took that day off and was home, but I’m usually at work. Well by 1 pm the water is of course hot. So they closed my case. I opened another and was ignored. I’ve about had it with the service in this place. I’ve been here over 20 years and what a decline the island has taken. I refuse to pay for heat when my apartment heat doesn’t even warm up my apartment, I have no hot water in the morning when I prepare for work and when after submitting the paperwork for winterization about 3 times no one ever came. Hey I had to visit maintenance 4 times to get my blinds put back after they changed the windows. A fed up tenant.