On behalf of its low-income clients, the National Consumer Law Center submitted comments in response to the proposal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service to revise 7 C.F.R. 273 regarding “Standardization of State Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowances.”
Read More about Comments Regarding Food and Nutrition Service Proposed Regulation
While Massachusetts does not have any laws or policies specifically designed to help address problems with utility bills if the consumer was a crime victim or domestic violence survivor, there are some tools that can prove very helpful for advocates to assist clients.
Appendix F of Protecting Seriously Ill Consumers From Utility Disconnections
Read More about Appendix F: Requirements for Documentation of Serious Illness and Sample Forms
Appendix E of Protecting Seriously Ill Consumers From Utility Disconnections
Appendix D of Protecting Seriously Ill Consumers from Utility Disconnections: What States Can Do To Save Lives Now
Read More about Appendix D: Sample Renewal Provisions of State Serious Illness Rules
Appendix C of Protecting Seriously Ill Consumers From Utility Disconnections
Read More about Appendix C: States with Sample Prompt Reconnection Protection Rules
Appendix B of Protecting Seriously Ill Consumers from Utility Disconnections: What States Can Do to Save Lives Now
Read More about Appendix B: States That Allow Phone Call Followed by Written Certification
National and West Virginia advocacy organizations urge the Public Service Commission to protect West Virginia ratepayers and reject the relief requested by the Companies.
Across the United States, communities are grappling with rising water and sewer rates, which are increasingly unaffordable for many low-income households. When people cannot afford to pay, they face loss of access to essential water services, spiraling debt and economic hardship, loss of housing, loss of parental custody of children, and grave risks to both…
OVID-19 pandemic has had a severe financial impact on customers’ ability to pay for basic necessities such as utility service. Nearly one million Massachusetts residential customers (824,972) owed a total of $793.8 million in unpaid electric and gas bills at the end of June 2021, $219.1 million (38%) more than was owed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The vast majority of those arrears (83%/$660.8 million) were held by customers who were more than 90 days behind on their bills, and thus at imminent risk of termination. By October 1, the two largest utility companies in Massachusetts reported that over 7,000 residential customers had been terminated since the state’s moratorium on residential shutoffs was lifted on July 1. before the moratorium on residential utility shutoffs expired on July 1. As the future remains uncertain, and households continue to financially struggle, millions of customers across the country need assistance immediately to avoid losing access to critical utility service.
