Laserfiche WebLink
RELEVANT LINKS: <br /> <br />League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 6/22/2016 <br />Securing Payment of Utility Charges Page 25 <br /> <br /> 1. Households with military personnel <br />Minn. Stat. § 325E.028. A municipal utility must not disconnect, or limit, the utility service of a <br />residential customer if a member of the household has been issued orders <br />into active duty, for deployment, or for a permanent change in duty. Note, <br />Cities must not use load limiters Household income determines whether a <br />city utility may disconnect the utility service. For this law, “household <br />income" means household income measured after the date of the orders <br />issue. <br /> The city must not disconnect the utility if the residential customer: <br /> • Has a household income below the state median household income or <br />is receiving energy assistance and enters into an agreement with the <br />municipal utility under which the customer pays ten percent of the <br />customer's gross monthly income toward the customer's bill and the <br />customer remains reasonably current with those payments; or <br />• Has a household income above the state median household income and <br />enters into an agreement with the municipal utility establishing a <br />reasonable payment schedule that considers the financial resources of <br />the household and the customer remains reasonably current with <br />payments under the payment schedule. <br /> a. Annual notice of this protection <br />Minn. Stat. § 325E.028. <br />Sample annual notice for <br />military personnel. <br />A municipal utility must notify all residential customers of this law once <br />each year. <br />Payment arrangement form <br />for military service <br />personnel. <br />And, if asked by a customer, a municipal utility must provide a form that <br />requests the protections of this law to a residential customer. <br /> b. Income verification <br /> Verification of income may be conducted by the local energy assistance <br />provider or the municipal utility or cooperative electric association, unless <br />the customer is automatically eligible for protection against disconnection <br />as a recipient of any form of public assistance, including energy assistance <br />that uses income eligibility based on income below the state median <br />household income. <br /> 2. No disconnection in extreme heat <br /> <br /> <br />Minn. Stat. § 216B.0975. <br />As stated previously, a municipal utility may not disconnect residential <br />services in counties where the National Weather Service has issued an <br />excessive heat watch, heat advisory, or excessive heat warning and those <br />warnings or watches are in effect.