“No customer ever needs to be without our service,” said Judi Blair, director of customer service for DP&L. “They just need to reach out to us.”
DP&L disconnected electric service for 13,341 customers through May of this year, up from 12,617 disconnections during the same period in 2010, according to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
The company — which has more than 500,000 customers in the Miami Valley, the vast majority of which are residential properties — disconnected 35,020 customers in 2010, compared to 42,909 in 2009, 35,382 in 2008 and 35,003 in 2007, according to PUCO.
Despite the recession and a spike in 2009, disconnection rates have remained fairly stable for the past 10 years at about 7 percent of all customers, company officials said.
PUCO put a moratorium on collection and disconnection activities for utilities in 2009 for residential customers at 175 percent of the poverty level in January and February of 2009. This move subsequently led to a sharp increase in disconnections because some customers were months behind on payments once collections resumed, said Lesley Sprigg, a DP&L spokeswoman.
Duke Energy Ohio, which provides electric and gas service, disconnected 28,354 customers during the same five-month time frame, up from 25,614 disconnections last year and 24,007 disconnections in 2009, according to PUCO.
Duke Energy Ohio, which has about 600,000 customers, had 13,448 disconnections in 2008 and 16,564 in 2007, according to the state.
Vectren, the natural gas company which has about 315,000 customers in 17 counties in western Ohio, disconnected services to 8,535 customers through May, up from 7,339 in 2010 and 3,663 in 2009, according to PUCO. In 2010, the company disconnected 18,224 customers, up from 15,090 in 2009.
Vectren spokeswoman Chase Kelley said customers can sign up for payment plans that spread out the amount they owe over the course of multiple months.
She said the federal government in the last few years has allocated more money to help low-income people pay their energy bills. Many safety nets are available to make sure vulnerable customers do not lose their gas, but those customers must reach out to access those these services, she said.
“We don’t know your financial situation, and the community action agencies don’t know that, so you have to go and actively apply to qualify for these programs,” Kelley said.
About 19,000 of Vectren’s customers participate in a low-income heating assistance program, but Kelley said federal statistics show that only about 60 percent of the people eligible to participate in the assistance programs do so.
She also said the PUCO data on disconnections is a little misleading because some of the disconnects recorded are the same customers being disconnected multiple times, and the figures include cases where the company went to disconnect the customers, but they paid the past due amounts on the spot.
But she noted that hard economic times are leading more people to seek out payment arrangements.
The number of DP&L customers on payment plans based on the percentage of their household income increased to 34,897 customers in September, up from 31,487 customers in September 2010, according to the company. About 6.7 percent of DP&L customers participate in this extended payment plan, and another 4 percent participate in other PUCO-regulated payment arrangements, including some that allow customers to pay only a fraction of their total account balances or a portion of their past due amounts.
Blair, customer service director with DP&L, said the company goes to great lengths to notify customers of their pending disconnections by sending out multiple letters in the mail and calling the customers. DP&L also allows customers to pay the past due amount on the day of the disconnection, when the company sends a worker to disconnect the power to the residence.
“Dayton Power & Light actually reaches out to their customers more during the collection period than any utility in the state,” she said.
Blair said every customer can avoid disconnection, but it is their responsibility to contact the company and work out some sort of payment arrangement. She said communication is key, and about 58 percent of customers who are disconnected reconnect within 72 hours.
Sally Thelen, spokeswoman for Duke Energy Ohio & Kentucky, said her company disconnected more delinquent accounts as part of a large effort to collect from customers who have gone a long time, some even years, without paying bills.
“All customers pay the price for those who don’t pay their bills, as those costs are spread across all energy users,” she said. But “when financial emergencies arise, we work with customers to arrange a payment plan that is fair to all parties.”
As winter approaches, residents can turn to groups such as the Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area for help with signing up for payment plans and energy assistance programs that can reduce their heating and electric bills, said John Bennett, the group’s spokesman.
In July, the agency approved about 529 applications from residents asking to participate in the summer crisis program, which provides people with cash assistance to help pay their energy bills. Bennett expects a large need this winter.
“We would encourage people to use our resources,” he said. “Our offices are pretty busy trying to help these folks.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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