Moratorium ends; nearly 90,000 Iowans face utility shutoffs

About 90,000 households could face utility disconnections because of unpaid bills beginning Thursday when the state's winter utility shut-off moratorium expires.

Utilities customers in Iowa who qualify for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, are protected from disconnection for non-payment of bills each winter from Nov. 1 through April 1. Utilities also are barred from disconnecting customers when the temperature falls below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Iowa utilities sent out 89,536 disconnection notices in February, according to a monthly Iowa Utilities Board report. Customer bills more than 60 days past due totaled $35.8 million at the end of February. That was an increase of 26 percent over the end of January.

The past-due amount didn't quite reach the $38.8 million peak of February 2009. The number of past-due accounts and the amount they owed was so great last year that the Iowa General Assembly persuaded the state's utilities to delay disconnections for two weeks.

Jerry McKim, who oversees Iowa's LIHEAP program, said fuel prices gave Iowa households a bit of a break this year, despite long periods of extreme cold.

Still, the number of Iowans who qualified for state heating assistance climbed to a record 91,698 households at the end of February, an 8 percent increase over last year's record number.

“We're well on track to have a record by the time we get through April,” McKim said. “We will have close to 100,000 households in the program by the time we get through April.”

McKim said the rotten economy is elevating the number of Iowans who meet the guidelines for the LIHEAP program.

“I can't tell you how many calls I've gotten from people who are out of a work, who were recently or not-so-recently laid off, and are applying for help for the first time ever,” McKim said.

Alliant Energy's Interstate Power and Light Co. said it had 27,5000 customers at least 60 days in arrears as of Feb. 26, up slightly from last year.

IPL customers owed more than $5.4 million, down about $175,000 from a year ago.

IPL Director of Customer Support Services Tim Heinrich urged customers to get up to date on their payments. He said IPL understand the demands customers are facing because of the economy and will work out repayment arrangements with them on a case-by-case basis if they contact the utility.

MidAmerican Energy spokesman Mark Reinders said “communication is always the issue” when it comes to past-due accounts. He did not have up-to-date information on the number of accounts past-due or the amounts owed.

Low income households have until April 30 to apply for LIHEAP assistance.