The Outage Refund Protection Act requires telephone, cable, satellite (DBS), and internet providers with more than 5,000 customers to automatically credit customers' bills when service is unavailable or not working for 4 hours or more. Credits are set at 1/30 of the monthly rate for each day the service is unavailable for a period of 4 hours or more. If a customer cancels service, any credit that exceeds the amount due must be paid to the customer within 30 days by check, no-fee prepaid debit card, or electronic transfer, unless the refund amount is smaller than the cost to disburse it. The bill does not apply to pre-planned maintenance when customers were notified in advance. The Federal Communications Commission must issue rules, including penalties for noncompliance, within 18 months of enactment. The bill also directs the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission to issue customer service rules (for example: accessibility for people with disabilities, keeping and releasing recordings of customer service calls for 1 year, a no-fee callback option, standards for missed service appointments, and rules about equipment returns). Finally, broadband providers must report outages to the FCC when the Disaster Information Reporting System is activated.
No publicly available information on estimated costs to the federal government, providers, or customers is included in the bill text. The bill requires credits and refunds and directs agencies to issue rules and penalties but does not include cost estimates.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.