Utility regulators keep moratorium on service terminations
By MARC LEVY and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission is rejecting an attempt to end its three-month-old moratorium preventing utilities from terminating service to non-paying customers while the state fights the spread of the coronavirus. Thursday’s 2-2 vote means the motion failed. Commissioner John Coleman sought to allow electric, water, sewer and telephone utilities to restart termination processes in July. Coleman says courts could end Wolf’s emergency disaster order at any time, and electric utilities are warning that customers are piling up large unpaid bills that will require “aggressive” collection efforts beginning in early August. The commission’s order halts terminations, but not collection activities.