Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 20, 2007: PUCO forbids utilities to cut off service to poorest Ohioans
Sheryl Harris
Plain Dealer Columnist
Ohio’s poorest residents won’t go without heat this winter if they fall behind on their utility bills – as long as they keep trying to make some payments.
In response to a call by Gov. Ted Strickland, the Ohio Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday forbade electric and natural gas companies to disconnect electric or gas service for Ohio’s poorest consumers over the winter.
The three-month moratorium applies only to consumers whose incomes are at or below 175 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. To qualify, a single person could make up to $17,867.50 annually; a family of five, $42,227.50.
But consumers who fall within income guidelines could still find themselves without heat if they ignore their bills.
The disconnect moratorium applies only to consumers who are enrolled in a PUCO-approved payment plan.
Those plans include the Percentage of Income Payment Program, better known as PIPP; the Home Energy Assistance Program, commonly known as HEAP; and similar payment programs offered through utilities.
The moratorium expires in mid-March, and in Ohio, that means there will be a whole lot of winter left to go when the program ends.
Consumers struggling to pay utility bills can seek help using the numbers and Web sites that follow.
The HEAP hot line at 1-800-282-0880 or http://energyhelp.ohio.gov.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel at 1-877-742-5622 or
www.pickocc.org.
The PUCO at 1-800-686-7826 or www.PUCO.ohio.gov. Many utilities also offer payment programs through their customer service departments.
The OCC asked the PUCO to set a higher income cap 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines. The PUCO indicated it might consider raising the cap.
The last time the PUCO approved a shut-off moratorium was 2001, when Gov. Bob Taft requested a ban. This time around, the commission noted the rocky economy and the lack of federal financial assistance available to consumers.
Not-so-private records
Here’s an unexpected casualty of a business closing: Your privacy.
This week, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann sued Dublin-based Randall Mortgage Services Inc. and its owner, Robert Shepherd, for allegedly abandoning customers’ personal financial information after the mortgage broker company closed its offices in Fairlawn, Cincinnati and Dublin.
The mortgage company’s ex-landlord in Dublin found the records and notified the state Department of Commerce, which urged Shepherd to properly dispose of customer information. When he didn’t, the state sued.
Sadly, putting consumers’ rec- ords at risk might not be as much a fluke as you and I would hope.
The Federal Trade Commission this week won a $50,000 settlement from an Illinois mortgage company. The FTC accused American United Mortgage Co. of chucking consumers’ credit reports into an unsecured trash bin.
The Illinois case is the FTC’s first based on the disposal rule, which applies to companies of all sizes that use credit reports.
Companies required to follow the rule include consumer reporting companies, employers, lenders, insurers, landlords, government agencies, car dealers, mortgage brokers, attorneys or private investigators and debt collectors.
The disposal rule requires companies to take reasonable steps to protect consumers’ private information when they throw documents away.
Company officials can use their own judgment on the best way to do that, but the agency suggests burning or shredding paper records and erasing electronic files.
Companies including payday lenders, mortgage brokers, lenders, property or real estate appraisers, tax preparers and courier services must also comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Safeguards Rule when they throw away records.
Instructions for complying with both rules and other good tips for businesses that want to avoid creating trouble for consumers can visit the FTC’s Privacy Initiatives site at ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/safeguards_educ.html.
The FTC also offers an online tutorial (www.ftc.gov/infosecurity) with practical no- or low-cost ways to keep data secure.
Season for scams
Winter sure hasn’t slowed down scammers. Lately, readers have reported these:
A work-from-home scam in which the recipient is asked to take a job processing payments in the United States – basically depositing checks, taking a cut and wiring the remainder to the “employer” overseas.
A puppy scam in which the buyer is asked to wire money to pay for a dog to be shipped at a later date.
A debt collection scam in which a foreign client seeks a U.S. law firm to collect debts in the U.S. (debts paid with counterfeit checks from accomplices) and then wire the proceeds back to the clients overseas.
Notice how wiring money always figures into these?
Wiring money is a terrible way to pay a stranger for anything. Once you send the money, it’s gone. And don’t let that fake check get your guard down. Even if your bank puts the money into your account, it will take it back out when the check is discovered to be counterfeit – and you will have to pay back anything you have spent.