Times of crisis require innovative support services for customers in need, panelists say
Electricity customers in need require collaborative and ongoing support services designed to help them respond to, navigate and overcome challenges associated with public health emergencies, weather-related catastrophes and other disasters, said panelists during a Critical Consumer Issues Forum (CCIF) webinar held July 27.
The ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency, for instance, has proven to be a challenge for electricity users that has been exacerbated by simultaneous natural disasters, social unrest and weather events, said Kimberly O’Guinn, a commissioner with the Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC) and chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Emergency Preparedness, Recovery and Resiliency Task Force.
“And the situation has disproportionately impacted communities of color,“ O’Guinn said during the CCIF event, which coincided with CCIF’s publication of its new report, Supporting Electricity Customers Through Times of Crisis: Being There When It Matters Most.
Katrina McMurrian, executive director of CCIF, which is a collaborative effort of energy sector associations that includes the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), NARUC, and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, said that the webinar was designed to provide an opportunity to engage stakeholders and encourage use of the CCIF report as both a resource on the issues and a foundation for further collaboration to build or strengthen programs that better address the issues faced by “residential and small business electricity customers in need.”
The CCIF report broadly refers to such customers as low-income customers, customers in arrears, energy insecure customers, and customers at-risk for loss of service or adverse health impacts from service interruption (i.e., customers vulnerable to becoming vulnerable).
These electricity customers also face similar pressures with respect to other utility services — natural gas, water, wastewater, and telecommunications, according to the CCIF report, which McMurrian said could benefit all customers with coordination across industries.
“It is important to provide customers with the tools, support, assistance, and flexibility that they may require and may prefer to address their needs,” the report says, noting that “there is an array of methods for addressing customer needs across the country and that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.”
The report includes nine consensus principles that could be utilized by state commissioners, consumer advocates and electric companies working with public assistance agencies and relevant stakeholders in their states and communities — and with federal counterparts as necessary — to better address the issues faced by electricity customers in need.
For example, the report’s third principle calls for electric companies, in collaboration with state commissions, consumer advocates and public assistance agencies, to proactively develop outreach materials for connecting customers to, and facilitating a more seamless enrollment in, available assistance programs.
“Lines of communications have to stay open between utilities, elected officials, the PSC and others,” said panelist Odogwu Obi Linton, commissioner with the Maryland PSC and chairman of the NARUC Consumers and the Public Interest Committee.
According to the report, systems and approaches for customer engagement may include new or improved multi-channel communication methods, such as targeted outreach by phone, online, in-person, or through the mail, as well as partnerships with entities including governors, legislators, public assistance agencies, community-based organizations, consumer groups, state and local government agencies, and chambers of commerce, among many others.
And general mass customer outreach might include social media campaigns, smartphone apps, electric company websites, public service announcements, and bill inserts, the report says.
Michele O’Connell, senior vice president of customer operations at Con Edison, said during the webinar that the company’s dedicated customer outreach and education division continues to provide a combination of such efforts to reach customers in need during the ongoing pandemic.
For instance, Con Edison partners with numerous organizations to provide customers with information on the various types of assistance they can obtain to help them pay their bills, O’Connell said, adding that based on demographic data and the company’s in-house database, Con Edison also has created targeted outreach data plans that are provided in different languages for different communities within its service territory, for instance.
“These are customized plans for customers with unique needs,” she said, noting that Con Edison’s multi-channel approach to reach customers also has included community events, online notices, virtual forums, and resource fairs, among others.
The company in fall 2020 also mailed out free weatherization kits to help customers lower their electricity usage. The kits contained weather stripping, window wrap, door sweeps, and other materials, said O’Connell. “There is still much work to be done, but offering customers options… is really important,” she said.
Maryland PSC Commissioner Linton agreed, saying that the numbers of electricity customers in need probably won’t diminish between now and Spring 2022. “Customers with generational poverty are a second problem that needs to be addressed,” he said. “They were there before COVID-19 and they’ll unfortunately be there afterwards. We need long-term solutions.”
Webinar panelist Andrew Slater, public advocate with the Delaware Division of the Public Advocate, said that coordinated messages could help customers in need going forward. For instance, his office tries to bring together all of the utility assistance information available in a one-stop shop that also includes information on available state assistance and federal crisis funds.
And according to principle seven in the CCIF report, when electric companies collaborate with state commissions, consumer advocates and public assistance agencies on providing such information, they should “be mindful of cost pressures on electricity customers and should mitigate the impacts of socializing costs to the general body of customers when exploring forms of energy assistance and ways to increase flexibility in customer payment options.”
For example, payment options might include fixed billing, budget billing, pay-as-you-go options, fee-free payments, and payment plans, among other options, according to the report.
Ann Rendahl, commissioner with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, and chair of both the NARUC Electricity Committee and NARUC EPRR Task Force Subcommittee on COVID-19, said her state recently extended an electricity disconnect moratorium through Sept. 30 to help customers in need.
In fact, according to the CCIF report, policy decisions related to disconnect moratoria and utility debt collection should be left to state policymakers and utility commissions, which are better able to gather specific and local information from, and coordinate with, electric companies, consumer advocates, public assistance agencies, and other relevant stakeholders.
In September, NARUC plans to issue a report that will complement the CCIF report, Rendahl said.
