MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Light, Gas and Water reports nearly 40,000 customers are weeks behind on their bill, which is why they’re giving those customers more time to come up with a plan.
Many in the Mid-South don’t know how they will pay their utility bill.
“We now have a number of customers who have never been in this situation before,” said Gale Jones Carson with MLGW.
August 24 is when they’ll start disconnections and late fees again, although that could be moved again.
How many customers right now need assistance?
“At last county we had about 38,000,” said Jones Carson.
That’s nearly 40,000 people who are at least 19 days behind on their bill and would be eligible to have their power cut off. Of those, 36,000 are residential and the rest are commercial.
“We don’t know who else may be added to that number.”
Because of that, Jones Carson said the company paused disconnects and late fees in March.
“Five months later we were going to begin the disconnect process today. However our president looked at the financial situation and continues to monitor the statistics tied to it,” she said.
MLGW is now giving customers until August 24th to come up with a plan. Jones Carson said everyone is encouraged to pay what they can to keep their balance as low as possible.
She said there are also many organizations offering help with utilities during COVID-19.
“So what we want to happen during this time is hopefully that our customers will take advantage of the various payment programs that we have come up with,” she said.
If you are one of those customers who need help, give MLGW a call to talk about new extended payment plans. Some of them allow eligible customers up to a year to pay their bill.
For more information on community resources available click here.
