ares Alexandria the August 7, 2023 Honorable Elizabeth Fetter ‘Councilwoman, Distt 4 ‘915 Third Alexandria, LA 71301 RE: Sune 26, 2023 Utility Non-Pay Disconnects Dear Councilwoman Fete: ‘The Administration appreciates you reaching out through your uly 28,2023 letter to learn raore about the City's utility operations and, specially, its non-pay disconnect cute”) polices and procedures, Following are our responses to your questions: 1. How are disconnects or cutoffs for past du city uty accounts determined? Discometion of service for non-payment i alas resort for the City it offers multiple programmatic opportunities allowing delinguent customers to satisfy thet past due obligaions while avoiding a disruption inservice. No othe ult, publi or private, offers as liber a variety of payment options asthe City. Specially: The City disconnects (ce. “eut offs") ar determined through a process cfrigorous, review affer generation by a pre-programmed software decision (CTOF licked. “Much ikea credit card account or other systems routinely using simple algorithms, the City system creates the list based on pre-set eiteria—days past dve, balance past due ete '. Unlike other utilities relying only onthe pre-determined ticket and perhaps notice of disconnection (most move directly to disconnection), the City dispatches WITHOUT account holder names known) the disconnect account Hist to its 2ustomer service team. The tam then looks at accounts to ensure payments did not post overnight, aver the weekend, ete © Accordingly, proper witeria and eosipatericed rouines or subroutines “el” the City the list—and then human beings double check “in the blind the list matched David Johnson DirctorofRnance Pest Office Box 7 Alesana LA 71309-0071 “lG18)449.5054-fx(318) 449-5231 ‘emai devdjobnion@eiyotlexcon JacquesM. Roy Mayorby accounvaddress for recent payment activity. No individual employeeof the City has the authority to order disconnects by account name, geography, or any other txiteria for non-pay disconnect. 4. After validating the CTOF tickets, the customer service team reviews any other special considerations such as pending legal mates or posted weather sdvisries. The customer service team is multidisiplinary, meaning it is composed of ‘managers from multiple divisions ofthe City to ensure objectivity and grovide for shecks and balances 2. Were commercial customers included thet day among the 83 disconnects and what was ‘the nuniberof residential customers among the number disconnected? Yes commercial eustomers were included inthe 83 total disconnects dispatched on June 26, 20:3. OF those 83 accounts, 63 were residential accounts; 61 were actually Aiseonnected, 4. What tne that day were residential customers eutoff on June 26, 20232 ‘The Service Workers, who are members of the customer service team, began their work. day at 00am. and were recalled othe office about 10:45 am hat morning. No accounts were dconnecied after the Heat Advisory was effective at 11:00am. thet day. Atypicaly, the Heat Advisory was issued later in the morning and not riot tothe stat ofthe work day. NEITHER THE CITY'S INTERNAL POLICY (WHICH FOLLOWS THE. LPSC'S POLICY) NOR THE LPSC’S ORDER (WHICH GOVERNS ALL REGULATED ELECTRIC AND GAS UTILTIES IN THE STATE) WAS VIOLATED ON THE MORNING OF JUNE 26, 2023. 4 What time that day was the heat advisory issued for the area and how i the city ‘administration or appropriate city offices notified or made aware ofa heat advisory? ‘Typically, Heat Advisories ae issued preemplvely by the Lake Charles NWS office and telayed othe alfected parish OEPs; that was not the case on June 26, 2023 because the Lake Carles NWS office had not issued a Heat Advisory as part of ity routine momning Hiazardous Weather Outlook. he customer service team received a Weather app alert when the Heat Advisory was posted during the morning of June 26, 2023; once the tanwas made aware of the new advisory, the Service Workers were cocalled fom the field, hich was in advance ofthe 11:00 am. san ofthe advisory. 5. Were any residential dsconnections or ewteffs on June 26, 2023 after the time the heat advisory was published and received by appropriate city offices? 'No, Asstated inthe previous answers, th City never received notice through the channels described in #4 above. However, the City recalled all Service Workers signed to Aiscontects by the 11:00 am, star ofthe Heat Advisory 6. Ofthe 83 customers disconnected or cutof on June 26, 2023 how many ofthe customer's cutoff were eut back on the same day or sometine throughout that week? « 31 ofthe 61 of the accounts disconnected on June 26, 2023 were reconnected that same ay; LA more were reconnected the nextday, Jane 27,2023. This exchude te spliation ‘of sanded accounts, landlord/tenant issues or broken payment arrmgements, Purthemore, the 14 residential accounts not immediately reconnected owed the City ‘541,875 in past due charges, an average of almost $3,000 per residential acccunt lastly ‘on averige these accounts had not paid the City, even partially, in 120 or more days Should you have anyother questions or equire further informat 3, please donot hesitate to reach Rept Guy! Te. Vek oevfsllon Relate Dictoret Face Chet Adninistave Ofer ce: Johnathan Goins, City Attomey Miclucl. Marcoue, Diresor of Udltes