Update on MLGW's Relaxed Deferred Payment Plan

Friday, Feb. 14th Update on MLGW's Relaxed Deferred Payment Plan

Since activating its Relaxed Deferred Payment Plan (DEFB) 19 days ago, on January, 27, MLGW has helped 2,553 of its customers avoid having their utility services disconnected.

 

Normally, MLGW issues about 40 DEFBs per day. However, 164 customers were approved yesterday, Feb. 13th, for the Relaxed DEFB, thereby avoiding having their utility services disconnected.

 

Since MLGW relaxed the DEFB rules on January 27th, to date 2,553 DEFBs have been issued averaging $766 per customer.

 

MLGW's "Relaxed" Deferred Payment Plan ends February 28, 2014, then we revert back to the normal DEFB which requires a balance of $500 or more and is spread over a total of five months. Under the non-relaxed DEFB, a little over 3,800 customers have been approved from Aug 1, 2013 to Jan 24, 2014 – working with them on monthly payment plans and helping them avoid cutoffs.

 

Plan Details
Any customer, no matter what your balance is, can apply for the Relaxed Deferred Payment Plan. Customers must go in to one of MLGW’s locations and must pay $250 or 25 percent, whichever is less, with cash, money order or cashier’s check. 

The relaxed rules lower the requirement for a deferred payment plan to bills that are $250 or more, which is down from $500 or more.

 

If the resulting monthly DEFB payment exceeds $500 a month, the DEFB can be set up over a longer period but not to exceed nine months, with approval, which is an increase from the limit of five months under the standard policy.