Residents catching up on utility bills

Fees, charges to start later this month

LANSDALE >> Borough staff are preparing to restart late charges and fees on utility bills this month and have gotten good news so far.

Council heard an update Wednesday night on the town’s plans to restart those charges and allow time for those behind to catch up.

“We’ve got a long way to go with this, but most people are going to be able to handle this and weather this storm,” said councilman Leon Angelichio.

“We’re working on payment programs with people, and we are being very flexible with those programs. We’re going on a caseby-case basis, to set something up that is easily affordable for all those involved,” he said.

Starting with the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, Lansdale halted new late charges for residents and businesses with bills from the borough’s electric department, on electricity the town buys wholesale and resells to local customers. Talks continued through last summer on how to help those who had lost jobs or income, and last fall the “Your Way Home” program administered via local nonprofit Manna on Main Street began using federal

“We’ve got a long way to go with this, but most people are going to be able to handle this, and weather this storm.”

— councilman Leon Angelichio

CARES Act COVID stimulus funds to help pay rent or utility bills.

Since the Pennsylvania Utility Commission lifted their COVID-related ban on electric shutoffs on April 1, borough officials have discussed starting in April how and when to reinstate those penalties. Council continued those talks in May and June with discussions followed by a council vote to authorize restart

ing those charges in late July, for the roughly 1,000 customers behind by a total of about $120,000 on their bills.

Borough Manager John Ernst gave an update on that process Wednesday night, saying staff are still preparing to resume those charges for customers on or after their July 22 billing cycle, and have begun making automated calls as warnings.

“We are making approximately 50 automated calls per day to customers who are delinquent. As of Friday, approximately 400 calls were made,” he said.

“Approximately 30 percent of those calls resulted in the customer paying their whole bill, once they received the call. The other calls, we’re working to set up payment plans,” Ernst said.

If an automated call is not answered, borough customer service staff will try three more times to make sure they get an answer, and send an email notice to the information on file with the town.

“It’s my understanding that what we are hearing is, that those customers who always were delinquent, and were delinquent before COVID, are remaining delinquent,” he said.

“Those customers who aren’t in a position to pay, are being guided to Manna and the ‘Your Way Home’ program. We have received some good feedback from Manna that they are helping people,” Ernst added.

Staff at that nonprofit have indicated that another round of grant funding could be available soon and will share details with the borough if and when that proceeds, he added.

Angelichio asked how staff have handled setting up payment plans with residents behind on those bills, and Ernst said customer service staff start by asking how much a customer can pay each month toward what they owe.

“The customer determines the amount. And that’s going to be different for every person,” he said.

For now staff are offering windows of as long as two years for customers to make repayments, and staff will look into whether the extra payment plan charges, which could be $10 to $20 per month, will be listed as a separate line item on their bill.

“But also, you can pay more than your fee too, so you can pay that off sooner rather than later,” Ernst said.

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on July 21 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.