Richmond - With a final vote in the House of Delegates, the General Assembly today passed House Bill 2297, the Water Consumer Protect Act. Delegate David Englin (D-45) sponsored this legislation to protect Virginians from overly aggressive home water service cutoff practices.
While most private water utilities in Virginia give customers multiple notifications and grace periods before cutting off home water service, Englin received multiple complaints from constituents about aggressive cutoff practices from Virginia American Water, which serves the City of Alexandria.
“I tried for several months to work with Virginia American Water to address this issue without legislation, and I even asked for their input and feedback on the proposed legislation,” said Englin. “There was nothing stopping them from changing their practices on their own and giving consumers more notice, as others in their industry do. They kept telling me they were working on it and would get back to me, but they ultimately were unresponsive — in the military we used to call it ‘slow rolling’ — so I had no choice but to protect my constituents through legislation.”
The Water Consumer Protection Act will require private water utilities to give customers at least 10 days written notice before cutting off home water services, and it will prohibit them from cutting off home water service sooner than 20 days after a bill is past due. Additionally, it requires the State Corporation Commission to develop regulations to prevent utilities from cutting off water service to a person with a serious medical condition.
“These are reasonable steps to protect people from aggressive cutoff practices while also ensuring water utilities have an opportunity to collect the payments they are owed,” said Englin. “Of course people should pay their bills, and this doesn’t change that. But it’s unreasonable for a water utility to jump from a payment that is a day or two late right to ‘we’re cutting off your water.’”
The final version of the legislation is the result of a consensus among various stakeholders, including private water utilities who employ more consumer-friendly practices. The bill initially passed the House of Delegates on Feb. 8, then it was amended in the Senate. Today’s 94 to three House vote to accept the Senate amendment was the final approval of the bill, which now goes to Governor Robert F. McDonnell for his signature.
Delegate David Englin is Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and is serving his third term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County. An Air Force veteran, Englin is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee. For more information, visit http://www.davidenglin.org.