West Virginia HB4461: Establishing limitations on billing practices of Internet or telecommunications providers that fail to provide subscribed customers service for five or more days

What the bill says

To amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended by adding a new section designated §46A-9-1, relating to establishing limitations on billing practices of Internet or telecommunications providers that fail to provide subscribed customers service for five or more days (120 hours); setting forth the purpose of the section; providing definitions; requiring providers to automatically credit the customer's account for the lack of service proportional to the number of days of disrupted services; establishing civil penalties; designating Attorney General to enforce section; requiring provi.

From the engrossed text, February 3, 2026:

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended by adding a new section designated §46A-9-1, relating to establishing limitations on billing practices of Internet or telecommunications providers that fail to provide subscribed customers service for five or more days (120 hours); setting forth the purpose of the section; providing definitions; requiring providers to automatically credit the customer's account for the lack of service proportional to the number of days of disrupted services; establishing civil penalties; designating Attorney General to enforce section; requiring providers provide certain data to the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General and establishing confidentiality of same; and providing these provisions do not apply to mobile service disruptions ARTICLE 9. INTERNET and Telecommunications. §46A-9-1. Prorated bill credits for internet or telecommunication service outages. (a) Legislative purpose -- The purpose of this section is to require internet or telecommunications service providers that fail to provide subscribed customers service for five or more days (120 hours) to automatically credit the customer's account for the lack of service proportional to the number of days of disrupted services and providers doing business in this state from charging a customer for services that the customer has not received and further, prohibiting billing of customer for services during an extended service interruption caused by the provider. Therefore, the purpose …

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