6.1b ERMUSR 08-11-2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Roughly half of the 130 respondents said they would continue the protections for the length of the peacetime emergency as well. But at least a dozen of them signaled in their filings that they would extend them only until specific dates. Nearly a third, meanwhile, did not specifically say in their filings how long they would extend the protections. Many of the filings used boilerplate language, some of which contained no mention of dates or timetables. Thirty miles northwest of Minneapolis in the city of Elk River, the municipal utility recently and briefly disconnected service to several of its customers, though city interim utility manager Theresa Slominski could not immediately say how many. All were in arrears before the peacetime emergency was declared, she said, and did not respond to repeated attempts at contact. She said the city would not disconnect a customer facing financial difficulties related to the pandemic. "We would not be impacting anybody who is struggling under those circumstances. We have people who have not paid us since the winter," Slominski said. Other local-level utility officials interviewed for this story said much the same thing. Service disconnections, they say, are a last-resort option for uncommunicative customers with long- outstanding balances who, in some cases, did not even sign up for repayment plans. Disconnections themselves are often brief, they say, and serve mostly as a way to get uncooperative customers to pay at least some of what they owe. In the south-central city of Windom, whose municipal utility ended consumer protections in June, city administrator Steve Nasby said there's "a long process before we would ever get to disconnect." "And that's essentially if the customer makes no effort. That’s the worst-case scenario," he said. But regardless of whether an individual's financial problems stem from the pandemic, said Annie Levenson-Falk, executive director of the advocacy non-profit Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota, the state is still under an emergency declaration. Citizens are still being encouraged to stay at home as much as possible, she said, and to practice social distancing when venturing outside. Some Minnesotans may not have returned to the workplace, she added, for fear of being exposed to COVID-19 or in order to care for family. "So that means people need to be able to eat at home and have running water...it's still even more important than under normal circumstances that people have utility service," she said. The impending loss of the extra $600 in federal unemployment benefits, meanwhile, threatens to further pressure bill payers. The program furnishing the extra $600 ends this week, and Congress has yet to agree on whether to replace or reduce it. 92