As residents saw electric bills rise, the D.C. Council enacted a 90-day moratorium on shutting off power for customers with outstanding balances of less than $1,000.
That moratorium ends Tuesday, July 28, but Pepco said customers with past-due balances shouldn’t expect to lose service right away.
“You’re not going to see where customers’ service is interrupted if they have a past due balance. We would still go through our normal 45-day process of notifying customers,” Valencia McClure, Pepco’s senior vice president of governmental, regulatory and external affairs, said.
McClure said the utility typically makes about five attempts to contact customers through phone calls, emails and notices before disconnecting service. She said customers struggling to pay their bills should reach out to the utility before it gets to that point.
“We always encourage our customers to call us prior to being disconnected,” McClure told 杏吧原创.
The moratorium was put in place by the D.C. Council days after the D.C. Court of Appeals in early March threw out Pepco’s approved multiyear rate plan and sent it back for further review.
McClure stressed that the moratorium was not bill forgiveness. Customers continued to receive bills during the 90-day period and still owe that money.
She also said soaring supply costs are a big reason customers have seen their bills spike.
“When you think about just three years ago, where Pepco paid for customers’ power at $29 per day; now that is $333 per day. Same power, but almost 1,000% increase that we are seeing in supply,” she said.
According to McClure, about 60 cents of every dollar on a customer’s bill goes toward supply costs. Pepco pays those costs to obtain electricity and passes them on to customers.
Pepco said customers behind on their bills may qualify for payment plans and assistance programs, including budget billing, bill discounts and debt-relief programs. Some customers may also qualify for an arrearage management program that can provide up to $300 a month in bill forgiveness.
“It’s just very critical that if a customer or family is challenged to make their payment, to call us so we are able to support them any way that we’re able to do so,” McClure said.
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