Growing WA coalition calls for more protections for low-income utility users

Washington state’s moratorium on utility shutoffs is due to expire at the beginning of next week, leaving thousands of low-income Washington families at risk of losing access to water, electricity, phone and internet service at a time of record unemployment.

Today, a coalition of environmental, labor and social justice groups are calling for Gov. Jay Inslee and state legislative leaders to extend the moratorium through the end of the year. The coalition is also asking that state leaders do more to protect low-income utility ratepayers in the coming months, including increasing funding for low-income energy assistance and passing policies that encourage utilities to adopt more flexible credit and collections practices. A full copy of the letter and a list of signers is available HERE.

While many Washington utilities voluntarily suspended utility shutoffs following local COVID outbreaks, none have committed to refrain from the practice after the emergency declaration is lifted. The order is currently scheduled to expire June 1. Inslee first instituted the shutoff moratorium in March. After calls from more than 60 civic organizations in late April, Inslee and state leaders extended the moratorium by 30 days but provided no tangible long-term fixes for low-income families that could see multiple months worth of utility bills come due at a time when more than 1 million in our state are unemployed.

Even before this pandemic struck, an estimated 15 million people in this country -- especially low-income people and people of color -- had difficulty affording utility services. 1 in 5 US households report reducing or forgoing necessities such as food and medicine to pay an energy bill. Nationwide, utility bills are one of the top reasons that people take out predatory payday loans. Meanwhile, utility CEOs took home $1 billion between 2017 and 2019 and delivered hundreds of millions of dollars of profit to investors. 

The economic fallout from COVID is likely to last years. It’s unacceptable that Washington state would allow utility bills to drive more people into poverty and homelessness.