NPU makes changes to utility security deposit requirements

Norwich — Norwich Public Utilities will adjust its requirement that some customers pay utility security deposits after complaints from landlords and human services advocates that the previous policy was burdensome on new renters and low-income families.

Starting April 1, NPU will eliminate or reduce the utility security deposit for some new customers and create a pilot program seeded with the utility’s own money for hardship customers, that will allow participants to pay the deposit over a 12-month period.

NPU heard complaints from landlords in the Norwich Property Owners’ Association last October. Landlords strongly advocated eliminating the deposit for new Norwich residents with good payment history with utilities elsewhere. The new policy does that, and reduces the utility deposit to one month estimated bill for new NPU customers with no payment history.

The utility also worked with Norwich Human Services and the Thames Valley Council for Community Action, which processes utility assistance applications at NPU’s customer service center at 173 N. Main St.

“We worked very closely with TVCCA and Norwich Human Services to brainstorm and decide what we can do to help our customers with the greatest need,” said Jeff Brining, NPU customer service division manager. “This formalizes that effort and coordinates how we’re going to do that.”

Norwich Human Services Director Lee Ann Gomes and TVCCA Executive Director Deborah Monahan both applauded the coming changes and said the utility deposits were a big burden to low-income families. Gomes said one landlord decided to forego a traditional rental security deposit, knowing the new tenant couldn’t afford to pay both that and the utility deposit.

Starting April 1, NPU will require a three-month utility security deposit based on estimated bills only for NPU customers who had overdue bills of more than $500. New customers with no payment history anywhere will be required to pay a one-month estimated bill deposit and will have up to 90 days to make the payment, Brining said.

NPU will require onemonth utility security deposits for new residents with poor payment histories outside Norwich — due upfront, Brining said — but new Norwich customers with good payment history elsewhere will not have to pay a deposit.

As before, customers with good payment records with NPU will not have to pay utility deposits on new connections.

Pilot program

NPU will launch a pilot program to help hardship customers with utility security deposits. TVCCA will determine eligibility based on NPU’s existing hardship program. Utility deposits will be reduced to one month’s bill for pilot participants, and they will have up to 12 months to pay the deposit.

NPU will seed the security deposit program with $10,000 to cover bills if customers default. If customers pay the security deposits and their bills, the NPU money would remain in the fund to assist future pilot participants, Brining said.

Brining estimated about 100 customers will be enrolled in the pilot program.

“We do have to collect a deposit,” Brining said, “but this gives the customer a year to pay it on their own. If they default, the money is in place to make NPU whole, even though it is our funds to begin with.”

In NPU’s longstanding hardship program for customers struggling to pay utility bills, customers are enrolled before the winter moratorium on utility shutoffs begins Nov. 1 and must agree to pay at least 50% of their winter bills before the moratorium ends May 1.

Participants in the new security deposit pilot program must be enrolled already in the winter hardship program, Brining said, and the 50% payment requirement remains.

Gomes said she was “thrilled” with the new pilot, especially with the 50% winter bill payment requirement. Norwich Human Services requires its clients to make at least partial utility payments during winter.

“Our mantra is if you have not paid in the winter, we cannot help you in the spring,” Gomes said.

She commended NPU General Manager Chris LaRose, Brining, NPU Customer Service Manager Ruth Swift and utilities commission member Michael Goldblatt, all of whom worked with her agency on the utility deposit policy.

TVCCA has a staff person at the NPU customer service center nine months a year taking applications for utility assistance programs. NPU hopes to extend that to 12 months, Brining said. NPU receives about $750,000 per year in grant-funded utility assistance for low-income customers, he said.

TVCCA Executive Director Monahan praised NPU for its long partnership with TVCCA. She said the new pilot program complements the fuel assistance applications TVCCA already handles at NPU. Monahan said she and Gomes had a “phenomenal meeting” with NPU staff on the new security deposit program.

“This is the nice part about NPU,” Monahan said. “They can do these things locally and not go through a big corporate structure.”

But Mark Kulos, president of the Norwich Property Owners’ Association, said local landlords still have questions and concerns about NPU’s utility security deposit program. In fall, landlords complained NPU charged high utility deposits for times when apartments are vacant in between tenants. NPU has adjusted that policy and waived deposits for landlords who make automatic bill payments. But Kulos said the policy is not being applied uniformly, and landlords have received conflicting information from NPU on various policies.

Kulos said the property owners’ association will want to meet with NPU officials again, possibly in May once the new program is in place, to discuss outstanding issues.

“We need consistency for predictability in estimating our own cost projections,” Kulos said, “and in marketing our apartments to tenants.”