By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Washington’s City Council has changed some deposit- and fee-related policies of Washington Electric Utilities.
The changes came after an increasing number of WEU customers complained about what they consider excessive fees for having their power restored after it was turned off for not paying their power bills. Other customers complained about being required to pay high deposits to have their power service restored when they were late in paying their bills once or twice over a period of years.
The changes were recommended by the Washington Utilities Advisory Board, which was asked by the council to review the complaints and consider changes to existing policies.
The changes, which take effect in November, include the following:
• Increasing the number of extensions from two to four per year.
• Allow payment plans for deposits ($100 a month for two to three months).
• Require a deposit from an existing customer after the third cut-off of power in three years. (The existing policy requires a deposit at the time of the third cut-off with no specific period of time).
• Cap residential deposit amounts to $200 if the customer provides a customer-service representative with a Social Security number so any future uncollected debt can be processed through the North Carolina Debt Set-off program if needed. (Under this policy, a customer with an outstanding debt to WEU may have all or part of his or her state income-tax refund diverted to pay that debt.)
• Charge a maximum $300 deposit to all residential customers who refuse to provide their Social Security numbers regardless of their credit ratings.
• All deposits will be returned to customers automatically in the form of account credit if existing criteria for returning deposits have been met. Effective in November, customers will have their deposits returned in the form of a credit to their accounts after six months of no cut-offs. If a cut-off occurs during a six-month period, customers will automatically have their deposits returned in the form of a credit to their accounts after the first six-month period with not cut-offs.
The council also suggested that WEU customers facing cut-offs or having problems paying all of their electric bills should talk with WEU customer-service representatives when they realize they may have a problem instead of waiting until the deadlines specified in the policies before informing WEU staffers about the problems.
The council also asked the advisory board to consider amending WEU’s polices to include a provision that provides for consideration of a WEU customer’s lengthy of residency within the WEU service area and that customer’s payment history when considering charging deposits and/or fees to restore power service it that service as been turned off. Council members said longtime customers with little or no past history of cut-offs or deserve that past history to serve as an assurance they likely will not leave the area without paying their electric bill.