Customers Must Contact Utilities For Outage Credits

Rockland residents can receive credit for telephone, cable/video and internet service lost due to power outages experienced as a result of Hurricane Sandy but they must contact their service providers. For those people who were without some or all of these services for two weeks, it could represent a sizable portion of their regular bill. 

“I encourage anyone who experienced loss of any of these services to contact their provider to determine if they are entitled to a credit for the time their service was out," said Rockland County Legislator Ilan Schoenberger.  "Thousands experienced the loss of these services for many days and that could reflect almost a quarter or more of the monthly cost of the services.  For about 250 residents left without power for almost two weeks, it could represent one-half of the monthly cost."  

Schoenberger noted people were more concerned with cleaning up, repairing damage and trying to return to their normal activities and may be unaware of their right to receive a credit for the time they did not have telephone, cable, internet or wireless services. 

Schoenberger advises consumers to contact their providers by phone, internet or in writing to let them know about the length of time the service was not working and to check their future subsequent bills for the credit.  

Anyone who has comments, questions or complaints about the utilities should notify the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) which is responsible for ensuring that New York’s utility providers provide adequate service.  

The PSC can be reached  online at http://www.dps.ny.gov/complaints.html or by phone at 800-342-3377  from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Letters can be sent to:Office of Consumer Services, NYS Department of Public Service, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223