The New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB) continues to deliver on its broad mission as the State's top consumer watchdog and think tank. Whether it's resolving consumer complaints, opposing utility rate increases, protecting low-income energy programs, publicizing the latest product recall, conducting recall awareness checks in the marketplace, testing toys for lead content, issuing a new scam alert for individuals or businesses, informing the public about major data breaches and identity theft threats, advising about credit card industry practices, or advocating for new legislation, the CPB is at the forefront of consumer protection in New York. The CPB realized several achievements on behalf of consumers in fiscal year (FY) 2009-2010.
For example, in FY 2009 - 2010, the CPB:
- Fielded more than 44,000 inquiries from New York consumers through its bilingual hotline;
- Processed, mediated, and resolved more than 16,000 consumer complaints;
- Recouped more than $1.5 million for consumers through voluntary mediation;
- Obtained more than $514 million in utility rate reductions through intervention in rate cases;
- Advocated for greater consumer protections and low-income programs within the regulated utilities operating in New York;
- Worked to ensure that 153,000 eligible customers in New York City and 7,000 eligible customers in Westchester who had not been previously enrolled were added to Consolidated Edison's low-income electricity program;
- Alerted the public about issues affecting their energy supply and rates at the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO);
- Enforced the Do Not Call Law in New York State, securing approximately $200,000 in penalties and helping to increase the number of New York telephone number registrations to an all-time high of 11,960,190;
- Advanced stronger State retail refund protections through the enactment of legislation;
- Championed federal reform of credit card industry practices, and was on the forefront of educating the public when the new protections took effect;
- Made financial education materials available to thousands of users of the Department of Labor's One Stop System across New York State;
- Actively pursued and achieved new rules that crack down on advertisements for "free" credit reports that aren't truly free;
- Partnered with NeighborWorks America on a statewide home loan modification scam alert campaign;
- Conducted the first-ever statewide home improvement protection and advice call-in event, and assisted more than 100 callers from 28 counties in the State;
- Received the prestigious Gold Classic "Telly" Award for "A Sense of Saving," one of the CPB's "Banking on Our Children" educational videos;
- Partnered with the New York State School for the Blind to produce a unique "described" version of the "Banking on Our Children" videos, which provide a sound overlay with concise descriptions of each video's visual elements enabling blind and visually impaired children to fully enjoy and benefit from the videos;
- Expanded the Identity Theft Prevention and Mitigation Program;
- Held an increased number of public shredding events throughout the State to help consumers guard against dumpster diving and the risk of identity theft and fraud while recycling more than 17,000 pounds of materials;
- Offered step-by-step advice to New Yorkers who were affected in 2009 by more than 400 data security breaches involving 1.1 million records;
- Provided comprehensive guidance to businesses on how to maintain data security and what to do if data security has been breached;
- Launched a "Make Privacy Your Policy" campaign to help consumers determine whether their privacy is being compromised by online activity;
- Published a monthly "Think Privacy" column online;
- Participated in the Tax Preparer Task Force to enforce the Tax Preparation Bill of Rights law and in other advisory councils to voice consumer concerns and interests;
- Advanced initiatives to spur development of supermarkets and improve nutritious food access in underserved communities;
- Received enforcement authority pursuant to the Children's Product Safety and Recall Effectiveness Act of 2008;
- Conducted recall effectiveness sweeps to monitor the removal of recalled toys and consumer products from store shelves;
- Continued a milk carton campaign to educate young people about toy safety;
- Raised awareness about identity theft, product safety, data breaches, the latest scams and other consumer issues through web postings, e-mail alerts, Twitter feeds, outreach sessions, workshops and public service, multi-media, and press announcements;
- Worked with federal and State emergency management agencies to assist New Yorkers in repairing storm damage;
- Developed strategic partnerships with numerous public, private and non-profit organizations, and trade associations to maximize the reach and impact of the CPB's consumer protection work;
- Expanded outreach, education, and media efforts within the Hispanic, Asian, and visually impaired communities and initiated outreach to the Russian and Haitian communities; and,
- Launched a monthly "New York Consumer Watch" radio program on WVOX, Westchester and enhanced the CPB's information exposure in the Spanish-language media.
This Annual Report details these accomplishments and more. People from all walks of life have benefited from the services, direct cost savings and efforts of the Agency, especially in these difficult economic times. Against this backdrop and with operating costs of approximately $3 million per year, the CPB is a good deal for New York consumers and taxpayers.