Changes to Annual Moratorium Approved

In today's Commercial Appeal...

MLGW ends ban on service cutoffs
Vote changes winter moratorium rules

The board of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division voted Thursday to end a ban on winter service cutoffs to residential customers who don't pay their bills.

The old "annual moratorium" stopped the utility from cutting off residential customers between Dec. 15 and Jan. 14, except in cases of theft of services, safety problems or customer default on special payment plans.

Thursday's vote changes the rules: now MLGW can cut off services to nonpaying customers during that period if they have an unpaid balance of $399.99 or more. Shortly before the last moratorium period ended, at least 19,000 customers owed at least that much.

The utility already offers the same $399.99 cutoff protection year-round to customers with good credit. If the customers have troubled credit, the utility puts them on the cutoff list if their unpaid balance reaches $199.99 or more.

Even with the new policy in place, many customers will escape a visit from the dreaded "cutoff guys." A separate policy blocks MLGW from turning off utilities on days in which the windchill factor drops below 33 degrees for four or more hours within a 24-hour period.

There's also cutoff protection on hot days, plus additional cutoff protections for those age 60 or older as well as for those with serious health problems or disabilities. Even when MLGW cuts off gas and electricity to residences, it leaves water on for at least 60 days.

Early last month, utility administrators asked the board to end the Dec. 15-Jan. 14 moratorium, arguing that it prompted many people not to pay their bills, which caused their debts to grow and made them desperate for help when the period ended.

The federal government's reduction in the amount of emergency utility aid available made change urgent, said the administrators, President and CEO Jerry Collins and Chris Bieber, the utility's vice president of customer care.

But at the board's May 19 meeting, Memphis City Council member Janis Fullilove spoke against ending the moratorium, saying that many people need it and that she'd taken advantage of it herself. She proposed requiring that customers sign up for the moratorium program and pay all the money due before starting it.

Collins said that idea was impractical and instead endorsed the $399.99 policy.