1. (1) This Part governs the rights, duties and obligations of every waterworks corporation with annual gross revenues in excess of $250,000 subject to the jurisdiction of the commission by virtue of article 4-B of the Public Service Law, their residential customers and applicants for residential service, regardless of any other conflicting commission rule or order.

2. (2) Nothing in this Part modifies the commission's rules or orders regarding the provision of water service to nonresidential customers, or residential customers of waterworks corporations with annual gross revenues equal to or less than $250,000.

   (b) Definitions.

   The following words and terms when used in this Part have the following meanings:

3. (1) An access controller is a party known to a utility to be in control of access to the metering equipment at a customer's premises and to have an active account of its own with the utility.
4. (2) An actual reading is one obtained by a utility employee from the meter or from a device which receives a reading transmitted from the meter itself.
5. (3) An applicant is a person who has made a request or has had a request made by a third party on his or her own behalf, for water service for his or her own residential use.
6. (4) Arrear are charges for which payment has not been made more than 20 calendar days after payment was due. A payment is considered to be made on the date when it is received by the utility or one of its authorized agents. Payment is due whenever specified by a utility on its bill, as long as the date is not before the bill is hand-delivered to the customer, or less than three calendar days after the bill is mailed.
7. (5) A backbill is any bill or any portion of a bill, other than a levelized bill, which represents charges for service that was actually delivered to the customer's premises during a period before the current billing cycle, which was not previously billed.
8. (6) A blind person is a person who has central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye with a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees, shall be considered as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.
9. (7) A business day is any Monday through Friday when a utility's business offices are open.
10. (8) A cold weather period is that period of time beginning November 1st of each year and ending April 15th of the following year.
11. (9) The commission is the New York State Public Service Commission.
12. (10) The Consumer Services Division is the Consumer Services Division of the New York State Department of Public Service.
13. (11) Current charges, as used in section 14.7 or 14.8 of this Part, refer to the amount properly billed to a party responsible for service to a multiple dwelling, as defined in paragraph (17) of this subdivision, or a two-family dwelling, as defined in paragraph (21) of this subdivision, for the billing period covered by the first bill rendered on or after the date the required notice is posted. Current charges do not include any arrears for earlier billing periods.
14. (12) A deferred payment agreement or payment agreement is a written agreement for the payment of outstanding charges over a specific period of time.
15. (13) A delinquent customer is a customer who has made two or more consecutive late payments, as defined in paragraph (16) of this subdivision, within the previous 12 months.
16. (14) A disabled person is a person with a physical, mental, or medical impairment resulting from anatomical, physiological or neurological conditions which prevents the exercise of a normal bodily function or is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques, as defined in the Human Rights Act (Executive Law, section 292 [21]); or a person who is unable because of mental or physical problems to manage his or her own resources or to protect himself or herself from neglect or hazardous situations without the assistance of others.
17. (15) Heat-related service is water service which is necessary for the on-going operation of a customer's primary heating system.
18. (16) A late payment is any payment made more than 20 calendar days after the date payment was due, in accordance with paragraph (4) of this subdivision.
19. (17) A multiple dwelling is a dwelling designed to be occupied by three or more families living independently of each other, as defined in the Multiple Dwelling Law or Multiple Residence Law.
20. (18) A residential customer is any person who, in accordance with an application for service made by such person or a third party on his or her behalf, is supplied with water service by a utility at a premises where such service is used primarily for his or her residential purposes. The word customer, when used alone in this Part, refers only to a residential customer.
21. (19) A seasonal, short-term or temporary customer is a customer who applies for and/or receives utility service periodically each year, intermittently during the year, or for a period of time up to one year.
22. (20) Tampered equipment is any service-related equipment that has been subjected to unauthorized interference that has changed or inhibited the accurate measurement of water consumption or that has been connected without authorization after a utility has physically disconnected service.
23. (21) A two-family dwelling is a building designed to be occupied exclusively by two families living independently of each other, where water service is not billed separately for each unit.
24. (22) A utility is any waterworks corporation, as defined in section 2 of the Public Service Law, having annual gross revenues in excess of $250,000.

25. (23) Utility deficiency is:

    1. (i) any action or inaction by the utility or one of its authorized agents that does not substantially conform to the rules and regulations of this Title, the utility's tariff; or
    2. (ii) the failure of metering equipment to accurately record service, unless a customer's culpable conduct caused or contributed to such failure.

(a) Applicability.