There’s a disconnect about utility disconnections, activists told the Board of Public Utilities at Wednesday night’s meeting.
BPU customers who are facing electric shutoffs can let the utility know that they have applied for assistance in order to keep their utilities on for 30 days, according to BPU officials. But activists said the system wasn’t working right.
The Kansas Emergency Rental Assistance program, which has funds to prevent evictions and utility disconnections, is available online at https://kshousingcorp.org/emergency-rental-assistance/. The program uses federal coronavirus funding.
According to BPU General Manager Bill Johnson, who answered customers’ questions during the BPU meeting April 21, customers who have applied for KERA funding and whose application is pending should call the BPU customer service department and give them a copy of their KERA application.
Activists spoke up during the public portion of Wednesday night’s BPU meeting.
Ty Gorman, with the Sierra Club, said it was unsafe to shut off electricity for nonpayment during the pandemic. It has resulted in increased deaths and evictions, he said.
Gorman said he has been contacted by people whose power was cut off the past few nights, and who had children. He called it “inhumane.”
Temperatures in Wyandotte County have dropped below freezing in the past few nights. The BPU restarted utility disconnects on April 1.
Also, another issue mentioned Wednesday was the utility’s medical device policy. Gorman said he attended a BPU meeting six months ago to talk about this issue. At that meeting, an Armourdale resident stated that her spouse, a COVID-19 victim, was on medical equipment that required electricity but was not listed under the BPU’s policy that prevented disconnections. The medical device, which helps her husband sleep, needs electricity, but this particular device is not on the BPU’s no disconnect list. The resident said she is afraid he could die without it.
The Armourdale resident returned to the April 21 meeting to talk about her difficulties in finding any utility assistance. She said two people at her home have had COVID-19 and were unable to work. They have long-haul symptoms. After she talked to the board at the Nov. 18 meeting, a board member gave her a connection to a charitable organization, which helped once, but did not work out after that because she didn’t want them to video her home.
Her utility bill was up to $900 a few months ago, and she didn’t think a one-time solution could fix it. It will not help many who are in dire need of assistance and can’t afford the “ludicrous bills,” she said.
The Armourdale resident said she had attempted to apply for the KERA program March 15 and was waiting. She said the site had issues and it did not put her application through. She has been dealing with different people in the KERA program, she said.
There was a glitch in the KERA application system and she could not complete the application, so she didn’t have a completed application to show the BPU, she said. She had no proof of it and would still be in danger of disconnection, she said. She also said later that she wanted to talk to the board more about the situation but that she was not recognized to speak again.
Recently, the resident received her third recorded message, that her electricity would be shut off on April 26, she said.
Johnson said the BPU’s customer service department would call her.
Later in the meeting he said the BPU is not shutting off utilities to people who call the customer service department and provide a copy of their application for KERA funding. The BPU wants people to make payment arrangements to keep the services on.
Also appearing in support of the resident and Gorman was Emily Wolfe, a Kansas City, Kansas, resident. She asked the board to consider what also happens when the utilities are shut off.
“We’re sending ambulances to their homes,” Wolfe said. Some of the people whose utilities are cut off, who relied on electric medical equipment, will be going to the emergency room. Others will be unable to work. She asked the board to look at not just the cost of turning electricity back on, but also the cost it has on the city.
Dustin Hare, an activist with Rent Zero Kansas, said he has been working with the Armourdale resident and a couple other residents who are still being shut off.
There seems to be some disconnect there, Hare said. There seems to be a problem with communications, he said, as some customers who had applied for KERA funding had their electricity cut off. Hare said he also works with nonprofits and they have not been helping these customers, either.
Johnson asked them to follow up with the BPU customer service department. He also said he would follow up with the customer service department about it.
Lori Austin, BPU’s chief financial officer, said KERA was trying to work to assist some customers, and she connected a KERA representative with BPU’s customer service department. KERA was providing BPU a notification of an application.
Johnson said BPU customers who apply for KERA funding need to contact the BPU to let them know that they made an application to the state, and give them a copy of it. He said they don’t receive a lot of feedback directly from the state.
Board member Rose Mulvany Henry said it is important to get information about assistance programs out as quickly as they can, as some people are struggling.
The BPU board also went into a scheduled closed session to evaluate Bill Johnson’s review.
The BPU’s customer service number is 913-573-9190. More information is at www.bpu.com. Bill pay options are at https://www.bpu.com/ForHome/Billing/BillPayOptions.aspx.
The Kansas Emergency Rental Assistance program is online at https://kshousingcorp.org/emergency-rental-assistance/.