City halts utility disconnects with 90-day deferral plan
By COLLIN GALLANT on March 20, 2020.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant The City of Medicine Hat will halt all utility disconnects for 90 days – a measure on top of provincial orders to allow some bills to be deferred from for the same amount of time – the News learned on Thursday afternoon. “They are connected to ensure that residents have uninterrupted utility service,” city corporate services commissioner Dennis Egert told the News on Thursday afternoon. The city announcement will mean that current and any future disconnection processes will stop, as well as fees charged to the utility customer that can total up to $140 for disconnect and reconnections. The city is seeking more information about the provincial announcement late Wednesday that government would require all gas and electric providers in the province to allow bills to be differed for 90 days to avoid shutoffs during the initial response to the coronavirus spread. “We’ll certainly facilitate that for the people who need it,” said Egert, who said more information on the local deferral program will be made public in the next few days. A potential three-month deferral of utility bills for those affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic shouldn’t cause financial woe with the City of Medicine Hat’s utility companies. On Wednesday the province announced a host of measures to help ease money worries, including the potential to delay for utility payments service for 90 days to avoid shutoffs during the response to the coronavirus and economic slowdown. City administrators were still working through the details of the deferral program, qualification requirements and building it into their operational billing systems on Thursday. According to a provincial release, the measure affects residential, farm and small commercial customers, who will have the ability to defer bill payments for 90 days to help alleviate financial hardship due to a slowdown in the economy and potential job losses. 11-10
