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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Peco speeds up shut-offs

Peco Energy Co. has been shutting off power faster for people who haven't paid their electric bills. Through April, Peco says it stopped electricity to 21,453 customers for non-payment, up from 8,767 in the first four months of last year.

Among low-income families, the number doubled to 13,000, says Jonathan Stein of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, citing Peco data. He calls it "a big unannounced policy shift" that leaves thousands in danger. 

Peco agrees times are tough: "More than 66,000 Peco customers have received almost $28 million in (state-funded) LIHEAP assistance," compared to 41,000 grants totalling $11 million last year, spokeswoman Cathy Engle told me.

And Peco did shut a lot shut off more people this Spring, after the end of the usual December-to-March grace period that reduces shut-offs during the fatal cold season. But the company insists that's due to a one-time change in its enforcement that should result in fewer shut-offs before the winter heating season.  "There's not more people being terminated; the timing's different," over the course of the year, says Peco spokeswoman Engle.

"Previously, when we had come out of the winter moratorium, we would start on the terminations," she told me. "We would go after the person who was most delinquent first. Then, we realized that wasn't working," because people a little behind in Spring would fall far behind by Fall.

What's changed is that Peco is now enforcing its policy -- two written warnings and two calls, over at least two months, after you're already a month late -- against everyone, not just those farthest behind. The idea, Engle says, is to reduce fall shut-offs by catching late-payers, and reinstating them before the weather turns cold.

"We're going to be the same at the end of the year," as in 2008, when Peco shut off 54,603, Engle predicted.  The utility reconnects about 63 percent of the people it shuts off, after they pay what they owe.
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 12:37 PM  Permalink | 2 comments
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:05 PM, 07/02/2009
    PECO is not a charity. Neither is PGW, PWD, or the city of Philadelphia. The sooner people understand that, the better off we all will be. If people need to relocate to a cheaper place to live, that is the most charitable way to help them. Big cities are not cheap places to live in. The city is going to have to be at least this smart about notifying people and shutting them off well in advance of the account becoming enormously delinquent. This reminds people to focus on what is important.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • Comment removed.


2 comments
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joe has been a member of Bloomberg LP’s New York Finance Team, wrote the book “Comcasted,” taught writing at St. Joseph’s University, and studied economics and history at Penn. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com
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