Can Mid Disconnec Electrict Customers From Service

In Wisconsin, residential customers can't lose heat or h2o service right now under rules put in place for winter and the COVID-xix pandemic.

Regulators at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, or PSC, take blocked disconnections through Apr 15. Just scammers are hoping customers don't know that.

On Feb. 2, a Madison Water Utility client told the bureau she got a call from someone who threatened to cut off her water service for non paying her bill. She had, and the utility posted a scam alert on social media to warn others.

SCAM Warning! We've gotten word that someone is calling people posing as a Madison H2o Utility employee and threatening to close off customers for late payments. We *never* shut off water for not-payment. If you recall you've been scammed, contact @madisonpolice motion picture.twitter.com/SQt4N3Eg0F

— Madison Water (@MadWaterUtility) February ii, 2021

"Nosotros never shut off water for nonpayment, but I think there are people who are looking to take advantage of doubt related to the pandemic, similar job loss. So they're betting if they telephone call someone and say, 'Hey, y'all're tardily on your bill, requite united states of america some coin or nosotros're going to close you lot off,' chances are they may exist late on their neb and they would pay that money," said former Madison Water Utility spokesperson Amy Barrilleaux.

The Wisconsin Department of Agronomics Trade and Consumer Protection has received a total of roughly 40 complaints in the last two years related to scammers who claim to exist from a water, gas or electric company and threatening to cut off service, said DATCP spokesperson Kevin Hoffman.

Utilities tin can't disconnect residential service correct now for water, gas or electrical. But they can charge late fees which were temporarily stopped from March 24, 2020, to July 14, 2020.

Late fees are limited in the land of Wisconsin. Depending on which utility information technology is, it is either a ane-fourth dimension 3 percent charge or a 1 percent tardily fee for every billing cycle.

Customers should endeavor to set up a payment plan if possible; that puts late charges on hold, says Kristi Nieto, an administrator of digital admission, consumer and environmental diplomacy with the Public Service Commission.

WPR logo

Sign up for daily news!

Stay informed with WPR's e-mail newsletter.

In Madison, six per centum of h2o utility customers were behind in paying their bill as of Jan. 31, officials said.

Pandemic Turns Process On Its Head

In a normal twelvemonth, utilities that provide services used for heating would file plans with state regulators in the fall to reconnect customers who oasis't paid their bills. This year, information technology'south just the opposite: utilities have until Feb. xv to tell the PSC if they intend to disconnect unpaying customers when the winter and pandemic moratoriums end.

Some utilities have already submitted disconnection plans to the PSC. That data will be available in March, Nieto said.

At a PSC coming together in Oct, before the moratorium preventing service shutoff was extended, commissioners said 83 h2o utilities submitted plans seeking to disconnect an estimated 2,513 residential customers for nonpayment in November 2020.

At the time, new cases of COVID-19 were surging. Public health officials have stressed the importance of hand-washing and social distancing to foreclose spread of the virus, something commissioners noted.

"H2o service forms the foundation for bones hygiene practices, including paw washing, needed to prevent the spread of disease and support overall homo health. Electricity and gas services in homes allow residents to stay in their homes and abide past social distancing guidelines to avoid increased spread of COVID-19," the committee wrote.

Disconnections of electricity and gas are always forbidden during the winter months in Wisconsin, only water was added to the list in March when Gov. Tony Evers issued an emergency order that temporarily suspended late fee charges and prevented service disruptions.

The PSC and then extended the moratorium several times, pushing information technology further into the future as the pandemic continued.