By Raymon Troncoso
Several State-regulated utilities have voluntarily extended a moratorium on disconnections into next year after requests from the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC).
The ICC announced that Nicor Gas and Liberty Utilities have agreed to halt shutoffs due to missed or late payments for all residential customers until March 31, 2021.
Ameren Illinois, Aqua Illinois, Illinois American Water, Commonwealth Edison, Peoples Gas/North Shore Gas and Utility Services of Illinois have agreed to delay disconnections to the same date for residential customers who qualify for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, and those financially impacted by COVID-19.
MidAmerican has extended its moratorium on shutoffs for LIHEAP-qualified residential customers until March 31, 2021 as well, and is considering other options, according to ICC.
To qualify for LIHEAP, residential customers’ combined household income for the 30 days prior to submitting an application must be at or below 200% of the federal poverty level for their family size. A spokesperson for the ICC said it is strongly encouraging all residential customers of the participating utilities to call their utility to check their eligibility. The LIHEAP application period runs from July of this year to June 30, 2021, or until funding set aside for the program is exhausted.
According to the ICC release, residential customers who have been impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic and cannot pay their utility bill do not need to fill out any forms or provide paperwork to qualify for the moratorium. They just need to “make the phone call and verbalize” their situation to receive a delay on shutoffs if their state-regulated utility is participating in COVID-19 related moratoriums.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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