Every telephone corporation shall offer residential customers on fixed incomes the opportunity to pay their bills on a reasonable schedule that is adjusted for such customer's periodic receipt of income.

No telephone corporation may charge any residential customer a late-payment charge, penalty, fee, interest or other charge of any kind without the approval of the commission for any late payment, collection effort, service termination or deferred payment agreement occasioned by the customer's failure to make timely payment for services. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a telephone corporation, with the approval of the commission, from imposing a reasonable charge, not in excess of its costs, pursuant to its tariff for restoral of service, dishonored checks and other lawful purposes.