In an effort to provide financial relief to
approximately 11,000 customers impacted by Hurricane Sandy, the NYC Department
of Environmental Protection (DEP) initiated a program that temporarily deferred
billing and suspended interest on their water/sewer bills. Letters were
mailed to customers in early December, 2012 notifying them of this program.
However, this program is ending on June 17, 2013 and these customers
will receive their first water and sewer bill in at least eight months. This
first bill could be considerably larger than the quarterly bills they normally
receive and as such customers may think it is a mistake or an error and may be
contacting you. Customers who are unable to pay the full amount can enter into
a payment agreement with DEP for no money down with up to 10 years to pay.
However, they will want to keep the term as short as they can manage because
they will be charged interest.
In addition, leak forgiveness has already been
applied on accounts where usage spiked and then returned to average levels
after the storm. Meter readings will be available for those who receive
estimated bills.
The due date for this first bill will be the
middle of July, and no interest will be imposed before the due date. A letter is being sent to these customers, providing an email
address and phone number they can use to reach a billing specialist for
additional review of their bill. Please note that all customers, even those
with little or no consumption during this extended period are still subject to
DEP’s minimum charge of $1.19 per day, which represents the base cost of
connecting to the water/sewer system. In addition, depending on the
customer’s billing cycle, the new bill may include charges for August – October
of 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment