How Columbia utility companies are handling shutoffs five months after moratorium

On May 14, Gov. Henry McMaster ended the three month moratorium on utility companies that required them to not disconnect services due to nonpayment.

In other areas of the state, this translated to thousands of water service disconnections. Greenville Water cut-off service to 4,500 customers in the August/September billing cycle and another 2,600 for the September/October cycle according to The Greenville News.

Columbia Water has not resumed disconnects yet, according to the utility’s director of public relations, Robert Yanity, and the city does not have a date set for when disconnects will resume. Instead, Columbia Water implemented a payment plan Sept. 2 to allow customers time to pay their bill.

In data released by United Way of the Midlands, 89% of utility assistance requests were for electric services. Dominion Energy resumed power disconnects Sept. 14, but would not disclose how many customers were disconnected since then.

In a release, Columbia Water said, “In order to lessen the burden for those who have fallen behind in water bill payments, Columbia Water is placing everyone that has a past-due balance on a six-month payment schedule.”

Additionally, the release listed the The Deborah Christie Customer Assistance Program, The Salvation Army of Columbia and the Cooperative Ministry as resources to aid customers in making payments.

Dominion also offers additional short-term payment plans and long-term, interest-free installment plans. Dominion Energy South Carolina serves approximately 277,775 electric customers in Richland and Lexington counties.

“I can tell you that we have seen an increase in the percentage of customers with past-due balances, as expected given the circumstances. Most importantly, many customers who are behind on their bills have not yet taken advantage of the resources and assistance currently available,” said Rhonda O’Banion, manager of public affairs for Dominion Energy.

Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperatives spokesman Troy Simpson said the company resumed power disconnects this month, but did not know how many customers have been shut off.

“October’s really our month to get back to normal,” said Simpson. “We wanted to give folks enough heads up.”

The average monthly utility bill in South Carolina is $144.73, according to a 2019 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). This makes South Carolina the fourth most expensive state for utility bills. The state ranks 43rd for median household income.

In Richland County, utility assitance calls were 40% of the total call volume to United Way for the month of September. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March, United Way has received 1,114 calls for utility assistance from Richland residents and 361 calls from Lexington residents.

Housing assistance calls outnumbered utility, food, and other categorized calls for six out of seven months since March, according to United Way’s Utility Need Report.

The federal Centers for Disease Control placed a moratorium on evictions as well, but Richland County still had hundreds of eviction filings each month since May due to a loophole, according to Adam Protheroe at S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center. Landlords are allowed to file for evictions, but are not allowed to evict residents until the moratorium expires Jan. 1.

Bryan Grady, chief research officer for S.C. Housing, said this is expected to result in “a tsunami of evictions” at the beginning of the year and in the dead of winter.

South Carolina has the highest eviction rate in the country, according the S.C. Housing needs assessment released in 2019.

Making rent or utility payments during the coronavirus pandemic can be virtually impossible for lower wage services workers who have been more impacted by business closings, Grady said.

“You take away their earnings, even if they have their jobs back — which quite a number of them don’t — and you know they’re not necessarily going to be in a position to get out of that hole if their workplace was closed for a couple of months,” Grady said.