Three utilities serving Idaho asked state regulators last week for stricter limits on what customers qualify for a three-month winter moratorium on service disconnections for nonpayment. Fearing growing unpaid bill write-offs in the spring, the utilities want stricter income and repayment guidelines.

Idaho’s public utilities commission has asked for comments by Nov. 21 on its plans to make the moratorium effective Dec. 1 through February next year. The three utilities — Avista, Intermountain Gas and PacifiCorp — want the moratorium limited to households with less than 150% of federal poverty guidelines, the same criterion used to qualify households for the federal Low-Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Avista officials said the additional requirements will discourage consumers from accumulating balances they cannot pay come March, and help avoid an increase in the amounts the utilities have to write off as uncollectible. The changes would be in effect for the next two years, the Idaho PUC indicated.

At present, customers qualify by having children under 18 years of age and/or being 62 years or older with infirmities. These customers don’t have to pay anything until March when balances accrued during the winter are due in full, but Avista told the state regulators the customers often don’t have the money then.

Last winter, 2,900 Avista customers sought the winter moratorium; one-third of those were subsequently disconnected in the spring, according to a utility spokesperson. Out of about $1 million in accumulated unpaid bills last year, Avista had to write off $201,500.

In Northern Idaho, where unemployment is high and the current economic conditions are depressed, more than 4,000 households in five counties were assisted with their heating bills last winter, according to reports in the local news media. Some 14% of the households in the area have incomes below federal poverty guidelines.

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