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______________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />Page 1 of 1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING <br /> <br />TO: <br />ERMU Commission <br />FROM: <br />Jennie Nelson – Customer Service Manager <br />MEETING DATE: <br />July 13, 2021 <br />AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: <br />6.1d <br />SUBJECT: <br />Staff Update <br />ACTION REQUESTED: <br />None <br /> <br />DISCUSSION: <br />• The customer service department has been working through challenges with the <br />garbage haulers. Randy’s Sanitation was purchased by Republic Services in 2020 and <br />they are slowly merging their processes. The City’s Environmental Coordinator and I <br />have a meeting with the haulers on July 14 to discuss solutions to alleviate customer <br />confusion. Additionally, the haulers have been very understaffed which has created <br />service issues for us to work through. The customer service department does a <br />wonderful job working through difficult conversations with customers and each hauler. <br /> <br />• Rebates applications continue to be heavy, especially WiFi thermostat and A/C Tune- <br />Ups. Our department is working through some cross training on rebate processing to <br />ensure multiple people know how to complete that process. <br /> <br />• Multiple changes were made to the Cold Weather Rule during this last legislative <br />session. I will be working with our credit & collections specialist to determine any <br />processes and/or programming changes that need to be done. Additionally, I have a <br />meeting to discuss these changes with two Minnesota utilities on the July 13. <br /> <br />• The general manager and I met to discuss penalties. It is strongly encouraged to not <br />penalize any charges that were accrued between March 2020 – June 2021. When we <br />resume penalizing, our software is already programmed to only penalize current <br />charges, nothing previous. Given that we did not budget for any penalties in 2021, we <br />propose resuming penalties in January 2022. We would send two notices to customers <br />notifying them of this change. <br /> <br />• New housing developments are becoming more frequent, generating a lot of phone, <br />email, and account activity. Between the specialists and customer service <br />representatives, they do a great job keeping the communication smooth between the <br />office, field, and contractors. <br />116