OUC is urged to avoid disconnects

Alliance says it can add to burden of residents facing financial stress

An alliance of 52 civic, socialjustice and other groups is calling on Orlando’s mayor and utility to take stock of the region’s financial distress from the pandemic and to delay a planned restart Tuesday of disconnecting customers for nonpayment.

The alliance noted that Orlando Utilities Commission is offering payment-assistance plans but that disconnecting residents can

“leave already financially burdened families facing late fees, reconnection fees, and other hidden costs that intensify financial hardships.”

“The COVID-19 crisis has increased exponentially throughout the state and within the Orlando metropolitan area,” the alliance stated in a letter to Mayor Buddy Dyer. “The unprecedented spike (9,000 new cases in a single day) is adding more distress to our working communities that are more susceptible to the health and economic impacts of the pandemic.”

OUC operates separately from city government but is municipally owned and includes Orlando’s mayor on its five-member governing board.

In March as economic conditions rapidly deteriorated, OUC and utilities across the nation announced suspensions of disconnections for nonpayment of bills.

The reinstatement of disconnecting customers has been uneven among utilities, including in Central Florida.

The city of Winter Park’s utility service, which provides power and water, suspended disconnections March 16 and will reinstate them Monday. City officials did not respond immediately to a request for the number of customers potentially spared from their service cut off.

KUA, providing electricity to about 80,000 customers in the Kissimmee area, suspended disconnections on March 14 and resumed them on June 22. Since the COVID-19 crisis began, 17,672 customers have fallen behind in bills by a combined $4 million, according to the utility.

But Duke Energy, the region’s largest provider of electricity has not set a date for reinstating disconnections of customers behind in their bills.

“Duke Energy encourages customers to pay what they can to avoid building up a large balance

having that will be harder to pay off later,” said spokeswoman Ana Gibbs. The utility is directing customers who are struggling with their bills to Duke’s “Energy Neighborhood Fund.”

Florida Power & Light Co., the state’s largest electric utility with more than 5 million customers, also has not reinstated disconnections, and the investor-owned company is urging customers to apply for a variety of assistance options.

OUC’s spokesman Tim Trudell said of the utility’s 240,000 customers, about 25,000 are behind