One of New Jersey’s largest cable providers wants to be able to continue to charge customers for a full month even if they cancel service in the middle of a billing cycle and has filed a federal lawsuit in its quest to continue that practice.

Altice - which provides internet, telephone and television service under the Optimum name in New Jersey - is seeking a temporary restraining order after being ordered by New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities to end its whole-month billing practice for television customers, according to a lawsuit filed in Trenton on Dec. 13.

The board last month ordered Altice to prorate the bills of customers who cancel service.

The federal lawsuit by Altice was first reported by the New Jersey Law Journal.

Altice argued that because it has competition, it’s permitted to bill customers on a monthly basis and does not have to abide by rate regulations. The company also noted that content providers such as DIRECTV, DISH, Amazon Prime, Hulu + Live TV, Netflix and Sling TV do not offer prorated credits.

Altice implemented its whole-month policy in 2016 in the 21 states it does business, including New Jersey, according to court papers.

The Board of Public Utilities on Nov. 23 ordered Altice to suspend its whole-month billing policy and refund customers within 60 days. In court papers, Altice says it would “suffer irreparable harm if forced to pay funds that are then non-recoupable in the event the state action is found unconstitutional.”

It would cost Altice about $5 million to convert to partial-month billing as changing the coding to its billing system would be “costly and time-intensive.”

It has one billing system for its services in all the states it does business, Altice says. It would subsequently have to re-train 3,500 agents at an approximate cost of $200,000.

Altice reported approximately $2.44 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2019 and a net income of $77 million for the quarter, according to its earnings report. It serves about 4.9 million customers.

The Board of Public Utilities declined to comment.

“While the Board takes very seriously its responsibility of protecting consumers, we do not comment on pending litigation,” a spokesman said in an email Wednesday afternoon.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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