Chattanooga agencies that assist low-income families with utility payments are preparing for an increase in requests for help as electric bills rise with the warmer weather – just as pandemic-related assistance that has softened the financial blow for many Chattanoogans struggling to pay their utility bills is running out.
Most local utilities suspended cutoffs for overdue payments at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, but resumed cutoffs toward the end of 2020. Chattanooga Gas resumed cutoffs for nonpayment on Sept. 28, as did EPB on Oct. 1 and Tennessee American Water on Oct. 7.
The number of Tennessee American Water customers for which the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority has requested disconnection for nonpayment has increased by 25% over the past year, according to WWTA Director Michael Patrick. That’s a loss of $368,000 that probably won’t be recovered, and will most likely result in higher rates for all ratepayers, he said.
All utilities that provide water to WWTA customers aside from Tennessee American Water include sewer fees in customers’ water bills, so Patrick could only provide numbers for its TAW customers.
EPB Vice President J. Ed. Marston said in a statement that the number of people whose service was cut off for nonpayment in the last 12 months is about half of what it was the previous 12 months, and the amount in unpaid bills written off by EPB in the past 12 months is also about half the amount written off in the previous 12 months.