We appreciate the changes Sen. Aird made to SB480. They addressed many of our concerns. One area we did not agree on concerns the amount of time before a utility can disconnect a residential customer for non-payment. The bill roughly doubles that time to 60 days in arrearage.
This will mean a cost shift among customers and could result in higher electric rates since we expect the bill to significantly increase arrearages and bad debt.
For this reason, we do not support the legislation.
We appreciate the changes Sen. Aird made to SB480. They addressed many of our concerns. One area we did not agree on concerns the amount of time before a utility can disconnect a residential customer for non-payment. The bill roughly doubles that time to 60 days in arrearage. This will mean a cost shift among customers and could result in higher electric rates since we expect the bill to significantly increase arrearages and bad debt. For this reason, we do not support the legislation.