Tarentum to resume utility shutoffs Aug. 1

Tarentum will resume shutting off water and electric services for customers who aren’t paying their bills on Aug. 1.

Council on Tuesday approved a resolution stating it will no longer voluntarily comply with a March 13 emergency order from the state Public Utility Commission prohibiting utilities from being shut off during the state’s covid-19 disaster declaration.

Tarentum operates its own electric distribution and water systems. The borough buys electricity from a supplier.

Although Tarentum is not a utility subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Utility Commission, council in April approved a resolution stating it would voluntarily comply with the commission’s emergency order.

The PUC says its moratorium on utility terminations will remain in place for as long as Gov. Tom Wolf’s disaster declaration related to coronavirus is in effect. Wolf issued the proclamation on March 6 and renewed it for another 90 days on June 3.

In the resolution approved Tuesday, Tarentum says it “is not administratively and financially able to maintain voluntary conformity with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s termination procedure.”

Councilman Jim Bonner said the vast majority of those currently in arrears were having challenges before the pandemic became an issue.

The borough has about 2,500 utility accounts, Manager Michael Nestico said. Roughly 75 to 100 are regularly delinquent, meaning they are several months behind on payments and consistently on the shut off list.

“The number of habitual delinquent accounts… did not increase during the shutdown,” Nestico said. “However, the outstanding dollar amounts on those particular accounts grew substantially. What we found is that the habitually delinquent accounts allowed their past due amounts to grow.”

Nestico said the borough recognized that the policy suspending shutoffs was not benefiting the majority of its account holders.

“Most of our customer base continued to make timely payments during the shutdown,” he said. “Additionally, it became apparent that the lack of disconnection was compounding the problems for habitually delinquent accounts.”

The borough offers payment plans and other assistance to residents having trouble paying their bills, Bonner said.

A number of utility systems across the state, such as municipal utilities, municipal authorities and cooperatives, are largely outside the Public Utility Commission’s jurisdiction and not subject to the commission’s moratorium, spokesman Nils Hagen-Frederiksen said.

“Individuals and businesses served by those non-PUC regulated systems should work directly with their municipality, municipal authority or co-op to address payment issues,” he said.