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PHOENIX – Arizona's largest utility announced on Thursday that it would temporarily stop disconnecting residential customers late in payment, while revising its policy following the death of this customer.
Arizona Public Service Co. said that this decision was made after the announcement of the death of a customer last year while electricity was disconnected, comments made in recent meetings of its lead regulator and the onset of summer heat.
The company's stock took place on the same day as Phoenix New Times released a report on the death of a 72-year-old Sun City West woman, whose electricity had been cut off in September because She had not paid a bill of $ 176.84.
The New Times noted that the APS records obtained by the woman's daughter indicated that she had paid about $ 125 a week after receiving a disconnection notice, but the public service commonly referred to as APS was still off. This week's temperature was well over 100 degrees in the Phoenix subway.
"Our heart goes to the client's family," APS said in a statement. "The safety of our Arizonans compatriots is our top priority.We want all our customers to stay in touch, especially during the summer."
APS Vice President, Stacy Derstine, said the company will review its disconnection policies over the next month and could extend the moratorium on disconnections. He intends to consult advocates for low-income clients, community organizations, and public agencies to determine the best way to keep customers powered up. The goal is not only to develop new policies for APS, but to create a state-wide effort on dangerous weather disconnects and utilities.
"We want to do what's right – if there are processes, things we can do to better serve our customers, we're here," said Derstine. It's an Arizona problem. We will absolutely be the spearhead. "
Derstine said she could not discuss the details of the disconnect that led to the death of Sun City West's wife.
Customers would still be responsible for paying their bills, even if APS temporarily interrupted the disconnections.
The company said it had put in place a number of support programs for people who were struggling to pay their electricity bills, including ways to establish payment plans, extend expiry and receive badistance to pay bills. For example, low-income customers can benefit from a 25% discount on their electricity bills and some of them may also qualify for payment badistance up to $ 25,000. $ 400 per year from outside groups.
This decision came after KPNX-TV announced that the company's connection cuts jumped last year to more than 110,000, compared with an average of about 73,000 in the previous five years.
The company said that a temporary shutdown in 2017 would have skewed 2018 numbers, although Derstine said the closures this year are about to move closer to 2016 numbers, which were the highest of the five years preceding the recent rise.
Derstine said it was the company's policy to put an end to disconnections during hot weather and that the policy review would seek to determine whether the existing rules are sufficient, not just for APS.
"There are several utilities in Arizona's footprint, in the state," she said. "It's definitely something that requires many voices at the table so that we can develop the best process and the best policy that are good for our customers, knowing that it can be extremely hot here."
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