Wisconsin's utility shutoff moratorium has ended. How to keep power on if you've fallen behind
Wisconsin customers who have fallen behind on their gas and electric bills could face service cutoffs if they don't act quickly.
Monday marked the end of Wisconsin's seasonal moratorium on utility disconnections, a period designed to keep people warm and safe during the winter. Now, payments are coming due for thousands of people with unpaid bills.
We Energies and utilities across the state this week are sending letters to those customers to notify them that they risk disconnection if they don't contact the utility to make payment arrangements.
In southeastern Wisconsin, less than 6% of We Energies customers are at risk of disconnection for nonpayment, said company spokesman Brendan Conway.
"Anyone who's at risk, we send a letter to them − that's the first step and that usually generates a lot of payments every year," he said. "We will send a lot more letters than we'll end up ever doing disconnections."
Those letters are typically followed up with phone calls when possible.
The utility's customer service staff can help set up payment plans, enroll income-qualified customers in the utility's Low Income Forgiveness Tool program and connect customers to other energy assistance programs.
Historically, about half of the people who receive past due notices work with the utility to avoid losing service, Conway said.
"It doesn't matter how much they owe, once they're on a payment plan, as long as they just stay current they're not at risk of disconnection," Conway said.
Help is available for customers struggling with electric, gas bills
The Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program can help reduce customers' gas and electric bills. The programs are open to state residents who earn 60% or less of the state median income, or $54,678 for a three-person household.
Nearly 145,000 households have received $74 million in assistance through the program in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, according to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.
The program includes assistance with:
The cost of electricity not used for heating
Home heating costs
Energy emergencies
Repair or replacement of non-operating heating equipment
Weatherization to keep homes warmer in winter and cooler in summer
For more information and to apply, go to Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program or call 866-HEATWIS.
Emergency help is also available from the Keep Wisconsin Cool/Warm Fund, a nonprofit agency that works to keep heat and power on for low-income residents facing energy-related emergencies.
LIFT program offers forgiveness of part of past due bills
We Energies' Low Income Forgiveness Tool is an assistance program in which half of an income-qualifying customer's outstanding bill of $300 or more can be forgiven if they enroll in a payment plan and consistently make payments for 12 months.
More than 36,000 households were enrolled in LIFT in 2023, We Energies reported. Since it was created in 2021, the program had resulted in payment of more than $40 million on past due bills through the middle of last year, according to the utility.
Customers who wait to enroll until after their power is cut off need to make a down payment of up to $600, depending upon how much they owe, before they can participate.
To learn more about available assistance or to set up a payment plan, customers can contact We Energies online at we-energies.com, use the We Energies app or call (800) 842-4565.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: We Energies urges customers with unpaid bills to act now to avoid cut off
