General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5260
February Session, 2014 LCO No. 1326
*01326_______GL_*
Referred to Committee on GENERAL LAW
Introduced by:
(GL)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 5260
February Session, 2014
LCO No. 1326
*01326_______GL_*
Referred to Committee on GENERAL LAW
Introduced by:
(GL)
AN ACT CONCERNING HEATING FUEL DELIVERY FEES, CHARGES AND SURCHARGES AND PREPAID GUARANTEED HEATING FUEL PRICE PLAN CONTRACTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (g) of section 16a-21 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2014):
(g) No heating fuel dealer shall assess a fee, charge or surcharge on the price per gallon or total delivery charge for any heating fuel delivery initiated by a consumer, except when:
(1) The heating fuel delivery is [not more] less than one hundred gallons;
(2) The heating fuel delivery is made outside the normal service area of the dealer;
(3) The heating fuel delivery is made outside the normal business hours of the dealer; or
(4) The dealer incurs extraordinary labor costs for the heating fuel delivery.
Sec. 2. Subsection (d) of section 16a-23n of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2014):
(d) A heating fuel dealer shall, not later than five business days after entering into a prepaid guaranteed price plan contract, [either: (1) Obtain heating fuel physical inventory to which such dealer holds title, heating fuel futures or forwards contracts, physical supply contracts or other similar commitments the total amount of which allow such dealer to purchase, at a fixed price, heating fuel in an amount not less than eighty per cent of the maximum number of gallons or amount that such dealer is committed to deliver pursuant to all prepaid guaranteed price contracts entered into by such dealer, or (2)] obtain a surety bond in an amount not less than [fifty] eighty per cent of the total amount of funds paid to the dealer by consumers pursuant to prepaid guaranteed price plan contracts. A heating fuel dealer shall, not later than five business days after entering into a guaranteed price plan contract that is not prepaid, obtain heating fuel physical inventory to which such dealer holds title, heating fuel futures or forwards contracts, physical supply contracts or other similar commitments the total amount of which allow such dealer to purchase, at a fixed price, heating fuel in an amount not less than eighty per cent of the maximum number of gallons or amount that such dealer is committed to deliver pursuant to all guaranteed price plan contracts entered into by such dealer. Such dealer shall maintain such total amount of futures or forwards or physical supply contracts or other similar commitments or the amount of the surety bond required by this subsection for the period of time for which such guaranteed price plan contracts are effective, except that the total amount of such futures or forwards or guaranteed price plan contracts or other similar commitments or the amount of the surety bond may be reduced during such period of time to reflect any amount of heating fuel already delivered to and paid for by the consumer.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2014 16a-21(g)
Sec. 2 July 1, 2014 16a-23n(d)
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2014
16a-21(g)
Sec. 2
July 1, 2014
16a-23n(d)
Statement of Purpose:
To (1) clarify the amount of heating fuel for which a heating fuel dealer may not assess a delivery fee or surcharge, (2) require heating fuel dealers to obtain surety bonds in amounts not less than eighty per cent of the total amount of funds received from consumers for prepaid guaranteed heating fuel price plan contracts, and (3) eliminate the option of obtaining physical inventory for such prepaid contracts.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]