Pennsylvania utilities have cut off service to 116,000 customers for nonpayment since the state lifted a moratorium on shutoffs on April 1 after a staggering number of unpaid bills piled up during the coronavirus pandemic. This number is not higher due to the number of protections put in place for low income customers facing shut offs due to the pandemic.
Several utilities, such as Peco of Philadelphia, delayed residential terminations for several weeks after the moratorium was lifted, Marx said. PPL Electric Utilities, based in Allentown, waited until June to start residential shutoffs.
Philadelphia Gas Works, the city-owned utility, ramped up shutoffs over the last three months — it disconnected no residential customers in April, 828 in May, and 3,578 in June, according to reports filed this month with the PUC. The numbers reported to the PUC represent only only those utilities regulated by the state — not most municipal utilities, such as the Philadelphia Water Department.
Nearly a million Pennsylvania customers were late on their utility bills going into the winter after more than eight months of pandemic-induced economic recession, up a third from the previous year, according to reports filed with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. They owed more than $808 million, up 70% from the previous year.
Andrew Maykuth, "Utilities disconnect 116,000 Pa. households after state lifts moratorium on pandemic shutoffs", contributed by Morgan Sarao, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 4 August 2021, accessed 15 May 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/utilities-disconnect-116000-pa-households-after-state-lifts-moratorium-pandemic-shutoffs-0
Critical Commentary
Pennsylvania utilities have cut off service to 116,000 customers for nonpayment since the state lifted a moratorium on shutoffs on April 1 after a staggering number of unpaid bills piled up during the coronavirus pandemic. This number is not higher due to the number of protections put in place for low income customers facing shut offs due to the pandemic.
Several utilities, such as Peco of Philadelphia, delayed residential terminations for several weeks after the moratorium was lifted, Marx said. PPL Electric Utilities, based in Allentown, waited until June to start residential shutoffs.
Philadelphia Gas Works, the city-owned utility, ramped up shutoffs over the last three months — it disconnected no residential customers in April, 828 in May, and 3,578 in June, according to reports filed this month with the PUC. The numbers reported to the PUC represent only only those utilities regulated by the state — not most municipal utilities, such as the Philadelphia Water Department.
Nearly a million Pennsylvania customers were late on their utility bills going into the winter after more than eight months of pandemic-induced economic recession, up a third from the previous year, according to reports filed with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. They owed more than $808 million, up 70% from the previous year.