HB 4461
Establishing limitations on billing practices of Internet or telecommunications providers that fail to provide subscribed customers service for five or more days
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Sign in to take action- Introduced
- Passed House of Delegates
- Passed Senate
- To Governor
- Became Law
Bill overview
This bill aims to protect West Virginia consumers of internet and telecommunications services by limiting how providers can bill them during service outages. Specifically, it requires providers to offer prorated bill credits for outages lasting more than 12 continuous hours and to notify customers of these outages and the applied credits within 24 hours. Providers must also maintain detailed records of outages and credits and share this data with the state commission and Attorney General to identify and address recurring issues.
Key provisions
- Requires internet and telecommunication providers to issue prorated bill credits for outages lasting more than 12 hours.
- Providers must notify customers of outages and applied credits within 24 hours of service restoration.
- Providers must maintain records of outages, credits, and outage reasons for at least three years.
- Providers must report outage data monthly to the Commission and the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
- The Attorney General can bring civil actions against providers for willful violations, with penalties up to $1,000 per violation.
- Mobile service disruptions are exempt from this bill.
- The bill prohibits billing for services during periods when a consumer is not receiving service.
- A consumer is not required to pay for service outages caused by the provider when they did not receive services.
Who is affected
- Internet Service Providers
- Telecommunication Providers
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