If you haven’t paid your electricity bill for a while, you may receive a call from a collection agency. Puget Sound Energy (PSE) stopped using bill collection agencies during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, but recently received permission from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to resume its collections operations, according to a PSE press release.
The company may contact customers who have a balance of more than $250 and are more than 90 days delinquent. To do this, PSE said it must have telephone or written communications with customers that include information about billing assistance, payment management, and other programs. Customers will also be referred to local agencies for assistance with their bills.
The press release also stated that if the customer does not take action with the PSE or local agencies within 30 days of contact, the company may place the customer on a phased debt collection plan.
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According to PSE, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved collections following a large amount of unpaid bills. As of October of last year, the company reported a total of $140 million in unpaid and delinquent balances.
However, PSE noted that overdue balances that occurred during the coronavirus, from March 2020 to December 2021, will not be recovered from customers. Alternatively, PSE may cover the costs in their rates.
The commission expects “PSE and all other utilities to prioritize energy justice principles, provide meaningful opportunities for public engagement and conduct comprehensive equity analyzes when developing credit and collection policies that could disproportionately harm already vulnerable populations,” the news release said.
Achieving equitable access to basic utility services is a vital public interest that should be central to our regulation of customer arrears, disconnections, and affordability programs. While this order allows for a limited resumption of the application process, our work to advance energy justice and equitable utility practices is far from complete.
Julia Dallas is content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here And email it here.
