National Fuel denies role in woman's death

By DAVID ROBINSON  News Business Reporter - Buffalo News -   12/7/2001

National Fuel Gas Co., facing nearly $19 million in penalties for not  turning on the natural gas for a 58-year-old Buffalo woman who froze to death in  her unheated apartment last winter, has told state regulators that it didn't  cause her death and followed the law at every turn.

The company, in its first official response to a state Public Service  Commission investigation that found that National Fuel appears to have "directly  contributed" to the death of Velma Fordham, said it tried to provide the gas service that Fordham had requested and "honored its obligations as a socially responsible company."

"The facts, however tragic, do show that National Fuel did not cause or even contribute to Mrs. Fordham's death," the company said in a summary provided to The Buffalo News of its 54-page response to the commission, which has been sealed because of confidentiality issues regarding Fordham.

The PSC in September ordered National Fuel to explain why it shouldn't be  penalized for allegedly violating state law by refusing Fordham's repeated requests to turn on the gas at her Burgard Avenue apartment.

"We don't think we've committed any of the violations alleged" by the  commission, said Julie Coppola Cox, a National Fuel spokeswoman. "We think the potential penalties are excessive and not appropriate."

The commission also ordered the company to show why it shouldn't have to review its records for the past six years and pay penalties to other customers  who were denied service under certain circumstances.

National Fuel has shut off service to its delinquent customers at twice the  rate of the region's other natural gas provider, New York State Electric & Gas Corp., since the beginning of last year. National Fuel is 76 percent more likely to do so than the three other major utilities in upstate New York as a group, a Buffalo News analysis found.

National Fuel, however, said it has consistently exceeded the commission's service standards. "There is no evidence that the company has had any problems in providing service to its customers in the prescribed time frame," National Fuel said.

Fordham's body was discovered by an employee of her landlord in late February, three months after she began trying to start gas service for her new apartment. Police ruled Fordam's death an accident after an autopsy determined  that she died from hypothermia.

But the commission's investigation, and National Fuel's response, cast more  light on how a woman, who had built up a $2,100 debt to the company for not  paying her gas bills, could be denied gas service during one of the coldest Novembers in Buffalo history and still be without it months later, even after obtaining $710 in heating assistance money.

Fordham first requested that the gas be turned on in her new apartment Nov.  21, a day after a blizzard had paralyzed the city.

While the PSC's investigation found evidence of only one attempt - on Dec. 14  - by the company to turn on the gas at Fordham's apartment, National Fuel said  it tried two other times.

National Fuel said a serviceman tried to reach her apartment to turn on the  gas on Nov. 21, but his truck got stuck on the clogged roads and had to be towed  back to the company's service center.

Fordham called National Fuel the next day to make further arrangements, but  told the company that she couldn't get to her apartment that day because she was  staying "a long way away from there."

Fordham's landlord, Paul J. Hissin of Amherst, also called National Fuel that  day and requested that the gas be turned on. Hissin told the commission that National Fuel told him the service order had been issued and that personnel had been told to call him in advance to make sure the apartment was accessible.

"The landlord could not accommodate us," National Fuel said in its response.

A week after the storm, on Nov. 29, Fordham went to National Fuel's customer service center and filled out another application for service. But the National  Fuel representative, unaware that her gas service had been discontinued, denied her request because of the judgment the company had obtained against her for her unpaid bill.

At National Fuel's suggestion, Fordham then went to a nearby county welfare  office, where she received a voucher for $710 in aid under the Home Energy Assistance Program, but the company still refused to turn on her service because  the heating aid covered just part of her unpaid debt.

National Fuel sent another serviceman to Fordham's apartment on Dec. 14, but could not gain access.

National Fuel said it does not appear that Fordham, who the company said was in deteriorating health and had undisclosed personal problems, ever lived in the  Burgard Avenue apartment.

"She stayed with friends for a good part of December," Cox said. "She was  obviously there when she died, but the usual evidence of someone living there  was not there."

National Fuel, because it maintains that it did not violate any state laws,  argued that it should not be subject to the potential penalties spelled out by the commission. Those include:

 $1.4 million for continuing to deny service to Fordham from Nov. 20 to Dec. 14, 2000. National Fuel said Fordham wasn't eligible for service on Nov. 29 because of her debt to the company.

But Gerald A. Norlander, the executive director of the Public Utility Law  Project, an Albany-based advocacy group for low-income residents, said Fordham was entitled to continued gas service because she moved within the utility's  service territory.

"They could never cut off a continued customer for old bills, and even if  they tried, they'd have to give her 15 days' notice," he said.

 $8.7 million for failing to start Fordham's gas service for the 87 days beyond the time prescribed by state law.  National Fuel said it couldn't start service as Fordham requested because of the blizzard. The company also said Fordham did not respond to the company's attempts to contact her after the Dec. 14 service call.

 $8.4 million for failing for 84 days  to make reasonable efforts to contact Fordham to offer her a deferred payment  plan. National Fuel said it did not have to offer Fordham a deferred payment plan because she had defaulted on a previous agreement.

 At least $250,000 for enforcing an  internal policy of denying service to customers with an outstanding judgment when the customer is otherwise eligible for Home Energy Assistance Program  payments or other aid, or is otherwise able to make payments on current bills.

National Fuel argued there is no basis for that penalty because Fordham did  not have her gas bills paid through a direct voucher program and the HEAP  voucher she obtained was not enough to satisfy the judgment. The company said  commission rules allow it to deny service under those circumstances.

National Fuel's complete response has been sealed and has not been sent to two other parties in the case, the Public Utility Law Project and the state  attorney general. "Certain of the records that we obtained are of a very  personal nature and shouldn't be subject to public review," Cox said.

The Public Utility Law Project on Wednesday wrote to the PSC asking that it  be given a copy of National Fuel's official response, calling its use of  confidential third-party information "a transparent effort to cloak its conduct and these public proceedings in unnecessary secrecy.