November 10, 2020 – The Illinois Commerce Commission announced that it is continuing to help residents struggling to pay their utility bills due to the pandemic. Spokeswoman Victoria Crawford said that the moratorium on the disconnections has been voluntarily extended by a number of state-regulated utilities through the winter of 2021 for eligible low-income residential customers as well as those who self-report to utilities that they are experiencing financial or COVID-19 hardship.
“There had been an agreement in place that had put a moratorium in place on residential shutoff until September 30, but now that has been extended,” Crawford said. “We went back to the utilities (companies) and said, ‘Hey, we would like to see you extend the moratorium,’ and most of them did.”
Crawford said that Ameren Illinois and other services have committed to extending the moratorium for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program qualified residential customers and those impacted financially by the pandemic.
”Low-income families and those impacted by COVID-19 should not have to fear losing basic services like electricity, heat, or fresh water,” Crawford said.
The moratorium relies on residents that are struggling to pay their bills to communicate with their providers to work out a solution.
“Say you are out of work, and there is just no way you can pay your utility bills. You got to get on the phone and explain the situation,” Crawford said. “Communication is key.”
The Citizens Utility Board, which is a non-profit focused on helping residents deal with utility bill issues, says it’s helpful to those hurt fiscally by the pandemic that the ICC has required all private water, electric and natural gas utilities in Illinois to suspend service disconnections, waive late-payment penalties while implementing temporary flexible credit and payment procedures to ensure all customers remain connected to essential utility service.
