NBU set to resume late fees, cutoffs
New Braunfels Utilities will resume late fees and disconnects for its residential customers Jan. 1 after a summer moratorium to lessen the burden of high utility costs.
Reconnecting will run a residential customer between $75 and $125, NBU said. And late fees cost 10 percent of a customer’s past-due balance.
The community-owned, nonprofit provider of electric, water and sewer services previously issued a freeze on late fees and disconnects from March 18, 2020, to July 1, 2020, for customers experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers had 30 days to arrange payment plans for past-due balances before the 2020 moratorium ended, according to NBU. Those who made payment arrangements before June 30, 2020, would have late fees forgiven “until the account return(ed) to good standing,” the statement read.
NBU is offering the same forgiveness to customers enrolling in payment plans before the end of this year. NBU asks its customers to prepare to make payment arrangements before Dec. 31 to avoid disconnection.
“That’s really what these few months are designed to do is just really encourage the customers who are in that particular state to really take action so they can maintain their services,” Krause said.
The dearth of reconnection and late fees has affected the util
ity’s books, but not to a significant degree, NBU said.
“While the non-collection of late fee revenue has placed NBU behind budget, we are managing the situation, running financial scenarios, and implementing mitigating strategies,” NBU said in a written statement. “The non-collected late fees represent a fraction of a percentage of NBU’S total fiscal year budget.”
Krause said it’s difficult for NBU to say when it might have to implement another moratorium, as the events that induced the previous freezes were sudden and unpredictable.
“I don’t think we could look in a crystal ball and make that forecast or prediction for anyone,” Krause said. “What are we going to do if we still need to collect? Everything is addressed as a case-by-case situation.”
NBU urges customers experiencing financial hardship to contact the utility at (830) 629-8400 or customerservice@nbutexas.com between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in order to set up payment arrangements.