Esta ley enmienda la Ley Núm. 33 de 27 de junio de 1985 para clarificar los requisitos de notificación y los plazos para la suspensión de servicios públicos esenciales por falta de pago, asegurando que los suscriptores tengan tiempo adecuado para objetar los cargos antes de la interrupción del servicio.
(Approved January 5, 2002)
To amend Section 4 of Act No. 33 of June 27, 1985, as amended, known as the "Act to Establish Minimum Procedural Requirements for the Suspension of Essential Public Services" in order to clarify the beginning of the term for the remittal of the notice of suspension of essential public services for lack of payment.
Act No 33 of June 27, 1985, as amended, establishes the minimum procedural requirements to guarantee subscribers or users of essential public services an adequate opportunity to object the correction and source of the charges billed, and an adequate notice of the decision to suspend the service for lack of payment. This provision of law applies to several public instrumentalities, among which are the Electric Power Authority, the Aqueducts and Sewers Authority and other public service companies established or to be established in the future and to its subsidiaries.
As of 1990, the Electric Power Authority, among others, started to use in some areas, a new bill which consolidates in one document the payment requirement and the electric power service suspension notice for lack of payment. The effect in these cases is that the terms granted for the payment of the bill and to proceed with the discontinuance of the service elapse simultaneously.
Section 3 of said Act No. 33 establishes that the subscriber shall have fifteen (15) days to pay or object or request an investigation counting from
the remittance of the corresponding bill. If the subscriber has said term to pay, a notice of suspension of service is premature. The above referred to Act should be interpreted as to require separate procedures for the collection of the bill and the notice in question.
On various occasions citizens have resorted to the Office of the Ombudsman to object the manner and form used for billing in some areas by the Electric Power Authority, among others. The Ombudsman concluded that said document restricted the rights granted to subscribers of essential public services under Act No. 33, supra.
It is essential for the Legislature to clarify the provision of law in controversy in order to avoid erroneous interpretations that could result in the impairment of the rights of subscribers of essential public services.
Section 1.- Section 4 of Act No. 33 of June 27, 1985, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 4.- If the outcome of the administrative hearing or the judicial review is favorable to the subscriber, the authority concerned shall return or credit any amount the subscriber paid in excess plus interest at a rate of ten (10) percent per annum.
If the subscriber does make the payment and does not use or exhaust the established procedure to object to the charges, the authority may discontinue the service. The discontinuance of the service shall be carried out on a date subsequent to the term of twenty (20) days from the time the notice for suspension is sent and shall never take place on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or on a holiday, nor on the working day preceding the latter. Provided, that said notice shall not be made before the fifteen (15) day term granted to the subscriber to pay or object and request an
investigation of the collection bill has elapsed, as established in subsection
(a) of Section 3 of this Act."
Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 14 (H.B. 825) of the $2^{ ext {nd }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend Section 4 of Act No. 33 of June 27, 1985, as amended, known as the "Act to Establish Minimum Procedural Requirements for the Suspension of Essential Public Services" in order to clarify the beginning of the term for the remittal of the notice of suspension of essential public services for lack of payment, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $5^{ ext {th }}$ of December of 2003.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director