It’s no April Fools’ joke — utility companies across Pennsylvania can begin turning off services for delinquent customers beginning Monday under state regulations lifting a ban on winter shutoffs.

“There are still a substantial number of at-risk residential and business customers” although the number of accounts in arrears has continued to improve since peaking during the height of the covid pandemic, said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The PUC allows utilities to terminate income-qualified households between Dec. 1 and March 31 only if they receive special permission, such as in cases of fraud or meter tampering.

Although April 1 is the first day low-­income customers can have their service turned off for failing to pay heating and electric bills, the PUC does not permit shut-offs on a Friday.

Duquesne Light has about 95,000 customers who are behind on their bills and are in danger of having their power turned off, said Katherine Scholl, the company’s director of billing and revenue management. The utility typically takes into account the amount owed and length of time in arrears when determining which commercial and residential customers will be turned off, she said.

“It’s about the same amount as it was before the pandemic,” Scholl said.

Greensburg-based West Penn Power estimated it has “tens of thousands of residential customers who are behind on their bills and are in danger of disconnection,” said Todd Meyers, company spokesman. Many of those customers on the brink of losing power to their residences could be helped by contacting the company for assistance and negotiating a payment plan, he said.

Meyers said he has been told there are slightly more West Penn Power customers with debt problems than in 2020, when 60,000 of the utility’s 600,000 residential customers were in debt, according to a Universal Service Programs & Collections Performance report filed with the PUC.

That same report said that in the covid-restricted year of 2020, terminations were significantly reduced. None of the four utilities terminated service to low-income customers — those with a household income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level — that year, according to the report.

Peoples Gas Co. has about the same number of customers facing the possibility of having their natural gas service interrupted as in previous years, said Barry Kukovich, a company spokesman.

Columbia Gas Co. said the number of its customers facing termination was not available.

“Terminating service is always a last resort,” said Lee Gierczynski, a Columbia spokesman, adding that it is important for the customer to contact Columbia for possible assistance with paying their bill.

The PUC has a set of requirements for utilities to follow before shutting off service, including sending a letter to the customer and trying to reach them by phone, Gierczynski said.

For customers who were behind in their bills, those letters informing them they could have their service shut off were sent in February, Duquesne Light’s Scholl said.

Assistance programs

Each major utility has a team of representatives trained to help customers explore available options and connect them with resources, Hagen-Frederiksen said.

“The first and best step consumers can take to explore these options is to reach out directly to their public utility. Utilities understand the assistance programs available in their communities for income-qualified consumers,” Hagen-Frederiksen said. There are many hardship programs offered by the utilities and nonprofits, he added.

Kukovich pointed out that the American Rescue Plan also has funding available to help customers in need avoid losing essential utilities.

The Dollar Energy Fund in Pittsburgh “had a bit of a record year for both demand and dollars granted during covid because more households found themselves needing assistance and there was additional covid relief funding available,” said Jody Robertson, a spokeswoman for the fund.

The Dollar Energy Fund’s hardship program for income-eligible customers distributed about $373,700 in grants to 1,107 households in Allegheny County since October and about $34,840 to 94 households in Westmoreland County during the same period, Robertson said. The fund expects to be busy this April as households try to make payments on their winter heating bills while trying to cover the increasing costs of food, gas and other utilities.

Duquesne Light has committed an additional $1 million this year to its Dollar Energy Fund, as well as another $1 million next year, raising the total to $1.75 million.

Assistance with current and past-due utility bills is available through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program of Westmoreland County, according to its website. A spokesman for the Latrobe-based program could not be reached for comment.

A spokesperson for the Allegheny County Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program also could not be reached for comment.

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