LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After a motion filed by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, the Arkansas Public Service Commission has now issued an order for Summit Utilities to not resume disconnects that were scheduled to resume later this summer.
The motion filed by Tim Griffin came after the company announced its plans to resume payment collections from customers, which included disconnects from those who miss payments.
The Attorney General explained that he believes "based on what we know at the moment" he feels that it was "too soon" to reinstate normal policies and shutoffs from Summit.
He asked the Public Service Commission to investigate the company’s purchasing and billing practices, along with potential violations of Commission rules.
The duty of the commission is to ensure that public utilities can provide adequate, safe, and reliable utility services at just and reasonable rates. They are also in charge of making sure that customers are not charged excessive rates for those services.
On May 9, the commission made the decision that it is in the best interest of the public for Summit Utilities to suspend their disconnections and late fees for the time being. They addressed the fact that the order does not affect Summit's ability to disconnect service for public safety concerns that are unrelated to the payment of services.
The commission urges customers to continue paying their bills, including any undisputed amounts, and for cases where Summit has already corrected billing errors to avoid large balances from accumulating.
In response, Summit Utilities released the following statement:
"We want to thank the Public Service Commission for encouraging customers to pay their bills and directing all parties involved in the open docket to urge their members or constituents to do the same. Summit temporarily suspended charging late fees and disconnections last fall. We have been communicating to our customers our intent to reinstate late fees and disconnects this July. We will continue to cooperate in the ongoing investigation and look forward to a final resolution of this proceeding."
The Arkansas Public Service Commission will re-examine in approximately sixty days and they will then decide whether or not the suspension should continue.