HELP AVAILABLE FOR UTILITY BILLS

Util­ity cus­tomers in Ohio fac­ing a dis­con­nec­tion or need­ing to restore their ser­vice this win­ter, have a chance to remain con­nected with a one-time pay­ment of $175.

On Sept. 11, the Pub­lic Util­i­ties Com­mis­sion of Ohio issued its annual Win­ter Recon­nec­tion Order.

That order went into effect Mon­day, and will pro­vide just that oppor­tu­nity for con­sumers until April 15, 2014.

Elec­tric and/or nat­ural gas ser­vice can be restored or main­tained by mak­ing the one-time pay­ment. If cus­tomers owe past due amounts on their elec­tric AND nat­ural gas bills, the $175 can be divided between both util­i­ties.

For cus­tomers who have been dis­con­nected, pay­ment of a recon­nec­tion fee of no more than $36 can also be required. If the utility’s recon­nec­tion fee is higher, the bal­ance may be billed to the cus­tomer the fol­low­ing month.

Cus­tomers must sign up for a pay­ment plan to pay any remain­ing past-due bal­ance on their util­ity bill.

There are a num­ber of addi­tional resources avail­able to help res­i­den­tial con­sumers stay con­nected to their util­i­ties.

For more details, go to www.pickocc.org