During COVID several states issued orders pausing or extending statutes of limitations. Some of those orders expired, some were made permanent. I have a client in Oklahoma with a PSO overcharge that dates back to early 2018. Normally the 3-year window would have closed in early 2021, but Oklahoma had a judicial tolling order from March 2020 through November 2020 — effectively extending my window by 8 months. Did anyone else use COVID tolling to extend a recovery period?
COVID tolling — did your state extend the SOL for utility claims?
Yes — I used the New York COVID tolling executive order to push a Con Edison claim back an extra 7 months. The governor's executive order tolled the SOL from March 20, 2020 through November 3, 2020. Without that tolling, my claim would have been limited to January 2018. With it, I got back to June 2017 and recovered an additional $18,000 for the client. Con Edison initially pushed back but their own legal department confirmed the tolling applied.
COVID tolling is a legitimate tool but it's becoming less relevant as we get further from 2020. For anyone who has claims that might benefit, check your state's specific orders. The tolling periods varied widely — some states did 2 months, some did 8, some did none. Also note that tolling typically applies to civil statutes of limitations, not to utility tariff backbilling limits. So it helps when you're making a contract or unjust enrichment claim, but it may not extend the utility's own tariff-based refund policy.
Good distinction between civil SOL and tariff limits. In my case, PSO is applying their tariff limit so the COVID tolling didn't help with them directly. But it does extend my window if I need to escalate to a formal complaint with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Filing that next week.