N.Y. Public Service Law § 112-a: Appointment of temporary operator

§ 112-a. Appointment of temporary operator. (a) The commission may

appoint a temporary operator of a gas corporation with twenty thousand

or fewer customers or water-works corporation with one thousand or fewer

customers if the commission, after notice and an opportunity to be

heard, makes a determination that such gas corporation or water-works

corporation exhibits one or more of the following criteria:

(i) a failure to provide safe, adequate, or reliable service;

(ii) a lack of technical, financial, or managerial capacity or ability

to provide the service; or

(iii) actual or effective abandonment of any service or portion

thereof.

(b) In making a determination under this section, the commission may

take into consideration:

(i) the financial, managerial, and technical ability of the gas

corporation or water-works corporation;

(ii) the financial, managerial, and technical ability of persons or

entities providing the same type of service;

(iii) expenditures necessary to make improvements to assure compliance

with applicable statutory and regulatory standards; and

(iv) any other matter that the commission deems relevant.

(c) For the purposes of this section, a "temporary operator" shall

mean any person or entity that:

(i) is not an affiliated interest of the gas corporation or

water-works corporation;

(ii) agrees to operate the gas corporation or water-works corporation

under the terms and conditions established by the commission; and

(iii) is financially, managerially, and technically capable of

operating the gas corporation or water-works corporation in compliance

with applicable standards.

(d) The gas corporation or water-works corporation shall have the

burden of demonstrating that it is supplying and has the ability to

continue to supply safe, adequate, and reliable service at just and

reasonable rates, or that abandonment of service by its system is in the

public interest.

(e) The appointment of a temporary operator shall be in addition to

any other remedies provided by law.