A moratorium on utility disconnections that has been in place since March will expire Thursday.
Kyle Landis-Marinello, general counsel for the Public Utility Commission, said the deadline is meant to encourage residents to take advantage of $8 million in federal Covid-19 relief funding to help Vermonters pay their bills. The money must be spent by the end of the year.
The Vermont Covid-19 Arrearage Assistance Program was rolled out in August by the Department of Public Service. As of Sept. 25, the most recent filing, only $774,404 had been spent.
Landis-Marinello said the state’s utilities have told the commission over the past several months that they’re having trouble getting customers who are behind on bills to communicate with them at all.
“In other words, customers knew they couldn’t be disconnected, and that might make this a lower priority in terms of what they address with everything else going on these days,” Landis-Marinello said.
So Landis-Marinello said the combination of the difficulties utilities were having communicating with customers, and the $7 million burning a hole in the state’s pocket, meant that it was time to take more drastic measures — like ending the moratorium.
Following requests from both the Department of Public Service and the utilities themselves, the PUC filed an order for the temporary moratorium, which was first implemented on March 18, and has been extended numerous times since, to expire this week.
The moratorium had applied to commission-regulated water companies and electric, gas, and telecommunications providers.
“Ending the moratorium now may actually help those customers who have fallen behind on their utility bills,” the order to end the moratorium states.
Both Green Mountain Power and Vermont Gas have also pledged to continue to not disconnect customers through the upcoming winter, even without the moratorium in place.
However, Landis-Marinello said it’s possible that promise will impact the effectiveness of ending the moratorium.
“It may mean there’s not a larger amount of people who seek out this funding, I don’t know,” he said.
There are many consumer protections included in the order lifting the temporary moratorium. Even for people who could face disconnections, there are requirements for utilities to give all customers at least 12 months to address outstanding bills.
“If a utility has someone who’s past due, they can’t shut off service on October 16, the day after the moratorium ends,” he said.
Additionally, Landis-Marinollo said, the onset of winter means Vermotners will actually have even more utility protections — regardless of whether they take advantage of VCAAP funds.
“Under existing rules, there are steps that have to be taken to avoid disconnections,” he said. “Those change when you hit the winter season, so customers will actually have additional protections under our rules throughout the winter.”
What ending the moratorium does mean, he said, is that attention will be drawn to the VCAAP program, through press releases, new requirements that any disconnection notice must include information about the program, and a renewed sense of urgency for giving customers “every opportunity” to spend the money before the year ends.
“The department may be doing even more than that,” Landis-Marinollo said. “I’m sure they want as much of this funding to be used for people who qualify for it as possible.”
The Department of Public Service will also be asked to file a report on how much money has been distributed by the VCAAP program by Nov. 15, and utilities must file reports by Dec. 15 on how lifting the moratorium has affected disconnection numbers.
