Texans impacted by the lingering coronavirus crisis will not have to worry about losing utilities after the Texas Public Utility Commission voted to prohibit providers from cutting off service over the next six months.
The unanimous ruling reached by the three-member commission pertains to power and water services, though it stops short of providing direct assistance to customers who will still be on the hook for any outstanding balances once the crisis has passed.
The action also fails to bar shut-offs on commercial accounts, meaning small business owners will also still be on the hook for balances, while electricity providers will be eligible for millions of dollars in interest-free loans and reimbursements that ultimately will be covered by ratepayers.
Filed by Commission Chairman DeAnn T. Walker, the so-called “COVID-19 Electricity Relief Program” places a moratorium on shut-offs of utilities for nonpayment and requires that any utility company’s customers be placed on deferred payment plans upon request.
The Texas proposal comes after 20-plus other states have already adopted moratoriums on utility shut-offs as the deadly virus shows few signs of letting up. The order is expected to impact as much as two-thirds of the state’s population, including large swaths of rural and suburban Texas and Houston.
With utilities able to tap into a fee created to cover the revenue losses stemming from all the unpaid bills, some have taken to describing the order as an industry bailout. The COVID-19 fund will be seeded with a $15 million interest-free loan from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, with loans pegged to go to electricity providers to cover unpaid bills and be repaid over time through funds collected by the new ratepayer tariff.
As written, John Howat, a senior policy analyst at the Boston-based National Consumer Law Center, said he worries the order could still leave low-income, jobless residents facing large accumulated bills once the crisis ends.
“There is nothing to ensure affordability of those agreements,” he said.
