Title
Approval of Modifications to the Department of Public Utilities Rules & Regulations GR-13 Disconnection and Reconnection of Service and GR-18 Utilities Assistance Program
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities approve the amendments to the Department of Public Utilities Rules and Regulations GR-13 Disconnection and Reconnection of Service and GR-18 Utilities Assistance Program
Utilities Manager's Recommendation
The Utilities Manager recommends that the Board approve the motion as presented.
Body
DPU is proposing changes to the GR-13 Disconnection and Reconnection of Service section of the Department of Public Utilities Rules and Regulations. The proposed changes are to GR-13.03 Disconnection of Service related to the temporary disconnection of service requested by a customer. The added language will require the customer to pay monthly customer service charges during the requested temporary disconnection period. In the past twelve months, DPU has received approximately 66 requests for temporary disconnection. These requests do not include temporary disconnections related to repairs or emergencies. Assuming 66 temporary disconnections for an average period of four months per year, translates to a loss of approximately $31,000 per year in customer service charges for water and sewer. Staff calculated using water and sewer only as most temporary disconnections do not include electric or gas.
DPU is also proposing changes to the GR-18 Utilities Assistance Program (UAP) section of the Department of Public Utilities Rules and Regulations. The proposed changes are to GR-18.02 Amount of Assistance Provided, GR18.03 One-Time Payments for Immediate Financial Hardship and GR-18.04 Procedure for Allocating Assistance. The purpose of these changes are 1) to increase the amount of winter and year-round assistance by 10% to account for rate increases and 2) to limit one-time payments for financial hardship to a single instance o...
Click here for full text