Echoing the topics of discussions in the headlines, this article talks about the impending end of state moratoria. Citing studies like the American Housing Survey, the article discusses disproportionate impacts felt by low-income communities as COVID-19 has compounded their already-precarious...Read more
Energy companies are pressing the PUC to relax their moratorium on shutting off non-paying customers. Unpaid bills amount to $479 billion at the end of June. Utilities also blame the moratoriums for encouraging customers not to enter into agreements, where companies like PECO only had 2% of its...Read more
This article discusses the Pennsylvania PUC’s decision to resume disconnections in more detail. It also references why utilities have been so adamantly insistent on reinstating utility shut offs. According to the utilities, at least as documented...Read more
This article was recently published by the Seattle Pi, detailing an extension the city has placed on eviction moratoria. While the article doesn't specify whether utility moratoria was extended, it does say city officials recommend their constituents call utilities to arrange for...Read more
Companies resumed shutoffs in a gradual way once the moratorium lifted. Companies hoped to give customers some leeway to gather funds to pay bills in their entirety or to get on payment plans. However, due to the economic hardships that households continue to experience due to the pandemic, many...Read more
This pdf shows the outlined contents of the Philadelphia Water Department's COVID-19 resource page. On this page, you can also find the information they have posted on the Water Rate Case hearings occurring March 16-March 18, 2021.Read more
This article provides a very clear and specific overview of the pandemic's impact on communities, especially low-income, communities of color. In this article, writers of the DNRC discuss how, despite assistance specifically set aside for the pandemic, households continued to face evictions and...Read more
This report was created by Carbon Switch, an energy efficiency investment company, that collected information on household energy bill accumulation and unemployment rates. Predictions made by the firm estimate a whooping 76 million households will be shut off or will be threatened with shutoffs...Read more
With the onset of the pandemic, many states have put moratoriums in place to avoid families being shutoff in the middle of the crisis. However, even with extensions, many of these moratoriums are set to expire by the end of September, which would leave a little less than 35 million people...Read more
This memorandum created by the National Governors Association contains estimates for the financial impact that COVID-19 has had on utilities across the country as of June 2021, after the ending of many winter seasonal moratorium and as many COVID-19 induced moratoria are being lifted as well. It...Read more
This article released by the Philadelphia Energy Authority is actually dated to this past November 2020, when the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission decided utilities could resume shutting off customers who did not pay their utility bills. With the November provisions, utilities were allowed...Read more
The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted 3-1 to terminate the shutoffs but put safeguards in place to protect the most vulnerable. According to the article, “The PUC’s order will still prohibit utilities from shutting off “protected customers” whose income is no more than...Read more