Georgia ends ban on utility cutoffs
Georgia will end in July a ban on shutting off utility service to consumers for unpaid Georgia Power and some natural gas bills.
Customers have been allowed to defer payment of monthly electric and natural gas bills since mid-March without threat of service cutoffs. The program was put in place as the economy slowed and unemployment soared amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Shutoffs will be allowed to restart July 1 for the 15 natural gas marketers in Atlanta Gas Light’s territory and July 15 for Georgia Power, the Georgia Public Service Commission ruled last week.
The PSC’s staff pointed out that many of Gov. Brian Kemp’s pandemic-related restrictions have been lifted. In the case of AGL, crews now have better pandemic-related protections for when they go into homes. And leaving the moratorium in place risks having higher costs that could increase overall expenses for remaining ratepayers.
Customers who haven’t paid past utility bills are still responsible for them. Utility providers are expected to offer them installment payment plans.
BP energy cuts 10,000 jobs
Energy company BP says that its global workforce will be trimmed by 10,000 jobs amid the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Executive Bernard Looney said Monday that the roles will be office-based and come mostly this year. The company’s current global workforce is 70,000.
The global energy industry has been hit hard during the pandemic as the widespread limits on business, travel and public life reduced the need for oil, gas and other fuels. Supply was also particularly high when the outbreak began, creating a perfect storm for the industry. With storage facilities filling up, the U.S. price of oil went below zero in April for the first time ever.
Biggest downturn since 1946 predicted
Business economists expect the United States to suffer its worst downturn this year in more than seven decades before growth resumes sometime next year.
Overhanging that forecast, though, is the risk that a second wave of the coronavirus could threaten the economy once again.
A survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics predicts that the gross domestic product – the total value of goods and services produced in the United States – will fall 5.9% for 2020 as a result of the recession triggered by the virus. That would be the sharpest annual decline since GDP fell 11.6% in 1946, when the nation was demobilizing after World War II.
The NABE panel of 48 forecasters expects the 5% annual GDP drop that occurred in the January-March quarter to be followed by a record 33.5% annual plunge in the current April-June quarter.
Vietnam OKs pact for European trade
Vietnam ratified a landmark trade deal Monday with the European Union that is expected to energize the country’s manufacturing sector and exports, as it recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawmakers approved the agreement in their first National Assembly session since the pandemic began. The deal was signed in Hanoi last June and was ratified by the European Parliament in February.
When it takes effect next month, the EU will lift 85% of its tariffs on Vietnamese goods, gradually cutting the rest over the next seven years. Vietnam will lift 49% of its import duties on EU exports and phase out the rest over 10 years.
The implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement “can’t come at a better time for Vietnam when it’s on the path of economic recovery after several months of closure due to COVID-19,” said economist Pham Chi Lan, a former adviser to several of Vietnam’s prime ministers.