Following fatality, APS halts shutoffs

Woman died soon after her power was cut off

Arizona Public Service Co. is halting all power disconnects for at least 30 days following the death of a 72-yearold Sun City West woman whose power was shut off, the electric company said Thursday.

“First and foremost, our hearts go out to this customer’s friends and to her family,” APS Vice President of Customer Service and Chief Customer Officer Stacy Derstine said in a video the utility released regarding the decision.

At least one state utility regulator also is asking for a review of policies regarding when utilities can cut off customers.

APS will suspend disconnections for residential customers who are late on their bills and work with community groups and low-income advocates to review its shut-off policies. Custom

ers still will be responsible for paying for whatever power they use during that time, but won’t be left without electricity in the meantime.

Shortly after the company made the announcement, Phoenix New Times published a story regarding 72-year-old Stephanie Pullman, who died in September after APS shut off her electricity.

A Maricopa County medical examiner’s report on Pullman said she died of heart disease and that heat exposure and diabetes contributed to her fatality.

Derstine said senior management at the utility was only made aware of the fatality Tuesday. Someone contacted APS customer service regarding a fatality on Sept. 18, but it “was not escalated to senior management,” she said.

Records from the Arizona Corporation Commission show that Pullman’s daughter called Sept. 17 and told the company her mother died after the power was cut. On Oct. 1, APS Senior Consumer Advocate Beth McFall also spoke with Pullman’s daughter regarding the billing issues.

Records supplied to the regulators by APS show that Pullman fell behind on her May bill in June 2018, when APS first sent a delinquent notice.

The APS records say the utility twice hung notices on Pullman’s door and three times mailed shut-off notices between June 18 and Sept. 5 before cutting the power Sept. 7. Pullman made multiple partial payments during that time but never caught up on her payments, according to the records.

The day the power was cut was the last time Pullman had contact with her family, according to the medical report. It is unclear exactly when Pullman died. The exam was conducted Sept. 16.

The last bill before her power was cut showed Pullman owed $336. She paid $125 two days before the electricity was shut off, but that was $52 short of her delinquent debt, and far short of her total bill.

Activist Stacey Champion has tracked heat-related deaths, pushed for consumer protections of utility shut-offs at the state Legislature, and spearheaded a challenge to APS’ rate hike.

Champion has warned regulators of the dangers of APS’ rate increase combined with summer temperatures and the utility’s shut-off policies.

“We’re here because the rates are literally killing people,” Champion said at an Arizona Corporation Commission meeting last month. “Seniors are dying in their home because they cannot afford to pay their bill.”

Champion was trying to get the five state Corporation Commission members to reverse the 2017 rate hike. They declined to take that action, and instead recently directed APS to file a new rate case later this year that could result in the rates going up again.

But Thursday, Commissioner Boyd Dunn requested a new inquiry into utility shut-off policies and directed utilities to submit their shut-off policies to the commission.

Champion also worked with state Sen. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, last year to introduce Senate Bill 1542, which would have prevented shut-offs when temperatures were over 90 degrees and below 32 degrees. His bill didn’t get a committee hearing.

Mendez said Thursday if he had the medical examiner’s report on Pullman at the time, he would have had a stronger case for the bill.

“I was definitely coming at it from a compassionate point of view,” he said. “I actually lived with a swamp cooler for the majority of my life, so I know what it is like to suffer through the summers here.”

He said Champion convinced him protections were needed for customers.

“I always assumed they were not going to cut somebody off in the middle of summer,” he said.

APS has faced scrutiny over its utility disconnections by 12News (KPNX) recently because last year the company posted a significant increase in the number of customers who were shut off for nonpayment.

APS cut off about 88,000 customers in 2016. About 56,000 were cut off in 2017, then the figure jumped to 110,000 in 2018, according to records submitted to the Corporation Commission.

Derstine said the company temporarily paused its shut-offs while moving to a new billing system in 2017, and many of the customers who fell behind on payments at that time rolled into 2018, which explains much of the increase last year.

She also said about 80,000 individual accounts were shut off last year, but some were cut off multiple times.

APS cut off about 7,800 homes in September, when Pullman died, according to the records.

Derstine said that APS does not shut off power on weekends or on days when there is an extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service.

“We err on the side of caution when it comes to determining what is an extreme heat day or not,” she said, adding that in the hottest months, APS might have only a few days when shut-offs are allowed.

Derstine said the Corporation Commission requires APS to provide written notice to customers before disconnecting them from power. In addition to a bill notice, she said it is company policy to call the customer and also hang a notice on the home’s door.

APS in its Thursday announcement reminded customers of bill-assistance programs.

APS this year allocated $2.75 million to bill assistance, where qualifying customers can get as much as $400 a year to help pay their bills, Derstine said.

APS also offers a 25 percent bill discount for qualifying low-income customers.

APS customers can discuss those options from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays at 602-371-7171 or 800-2539405 outside Phoenix.