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City Utilities of Springfield has increased the number of utility shutoffs by 40 percent over the last year. KSMU’s Katie Easley spoke with CU about this increase and what customers with overdue accounts can do to avoid losing power and water.
Due to a recommendation from the state auditor two years ago customers with delinquent accounts must come in or call City Utilities to avoid their utilities being shut off.
“If we don’t have that communication of why that bill is delinquent, all we can assume is someone is not going to pay that bill.”
That’s Joel Alexander, spokesman for City Utilities of Springfield. He says this new policy for overdue accounts can actually help customers who are struggling with their bills.
“If a customer is having trouble a customer needs to call our offices and talk to our customer services. Let them know what’s going on. We are going to do our best to come up with a payment arrangement with that account and see what we can do.”
Alexander says CU’s policy includes a 60 day period before utilities get shut off on overdue accounts. In that time, customers receive several notifications about the upcoming cancellation.
“We don’t want to go out and make a disconnection at all. That’s the last thing we want to do. The first thing we want to do is establish that communication so we know what’s going on.”
Springfield’s City Utilities’ customer service line is 836-9000. On each utility bill there is an opportunity for customers to donate money to Project Share. That’s a charitable program for helping people who need help paying their utility bills.
For KSMU News, I’m Katie Easley.
