Frankfort – The Frankfort Municipal Utilities resumed its disconnection of services for failure to pay on Monday, Sep 14 – as of Monday, Sep 21, thirty-seven customers have had services disconnected according to FMU Billing Manager Stacy Uitts.
Uitts provided this information during the Monday, Utility Service Board meeting. She noted 92 payment plans have been set-up for customers that had applied for the assistance. She stated, of the 92, less than five were from customers who came in after being disconnected.
Customers facing disconnection were notified that payment plans, of up to 6-months, were available to avoid disconnection.
“Last week we were booked,” said Uitts when she shared with USB members what the demand has been from customers requesting to take advantage of the payment plan. “We were doing two payment plans every half-hour, with the exception of lunch hours, and our entire day was booked with appointments of people trying to get in before being disconnected.”
She also noted there are 236 remaining to be disconnected. Of that count, 43 customers are 31 to 45 days late, 194 are more than 45 days late, and 15 are more than 200 days late with the oldest delinquent account being 269 days past due.
The billing office has had its 1st payment plan already paid off close to $500.
“We’re happy,” said Uitts when asked how she felt the payment plan had been going. “I think the payment plan has been a good option for a lot of people and I think it seems very promising.”
Until October 15th, the FMU is not charging a disconnect fee according to Uitts. She said people still have time to call and set-up an appointment to avoid being disconnected and for those that have been disconnected, they can still have a payment plan set-up.
Uitts explained: “They have to come in before their disconnect (date) to avoid being disconnected to get their payment plan set-up. If they come in after (being disconnected), they will not be turned back on until they come in and sign a payment plan.”
The FMU Billing Office can be contacted at (765) 659-3361 to arrange an appointment to go to the Billing Office – located at 1405 E Wabash St, Frankfort – to create a payment plan.
Utility disconnections were placed on hold during the pandemic due to a moratorium put in place by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb’s executive order issued March 19 which expired on August 14.
