Entergy New Orleans extends payments, suspension of service disconnects
As its customers continue to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, Entergy New Orleans pledged this week to extend an existing policy suspending disconnects for non-payment and expanding deferment and payment of past due amount options.
Customers will not have to worry about disconnects until May 31 under the new plan. Commercial customers will now be able to pursue deferred payment options to manage bills better. Residential customers, who will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, will be able to extend payments on past due amounts for longer and will have the ability to fold in past-due amounts using Entergy’s Levelized Billing plan option, which averages payments to make each more consistent every month.
“As we have in past emergencies, we are leveraging our many years of experience working with customers as we navigate through this pandemic together,” David Ellis, president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans, said. “Our customers are facing enough challenges, and we’re doing what we can to make things a little easier for them. However, it is so very important that customers with the ability to pay continue to do so.”
Flexibility appears to be a new key to payment plans as many struggle to pay utility bills. This has also led to a variety of other tools being offered, such as an auto-pay option for bills, paper-free email reminders, the ability to pick a preferred date to be billed and connection to local nonprofit agencies to help seniors and the disabled with emergency bill assistance during times of crisis.
