TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — It’s summertime and everybody’s electric bill is higher this time of year. The City of Tallahassee is working with customers that are struggling to keep the lights on.
The utility relief program was created at the start of this pandemic. It allows payments to be deferred up to six months. Even that isn’t enough help for some who are out of work.
So while some cities like Jacksonville are starting to disconnect services for non-payment, Tallahassee has no plans to do so for any of their 120,000 customers.
“We are simply saying to our citizens give us a call,” said Tallahassee chief customer officer for utilities, James Barnes. “If you have financial impact due to COVID-19 we’re going to work with you to tailor a response to you based on your situation. Every situation is different. Whether it’s a pay plan and extension or whether it’s a partial pay. We just want to hear from you so that we can then be flexible and be reasonable and trying to make sure that we have a win-win on both sides.”
For now this is no end date for when this grace period will end.
“All you have to do is give us a call at 850-891-4968,” said Barnes. “We’re here seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. We’re going to work with you. We can work with a pay plan or an extension. Because our goal is to ensure that everyone possible can maintain their utility services.”
