LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – The pandemic has forced many in Lansing to put their bills on the backburner. The Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) reported 25,000 of their customers are behind on their bills. They believe a lot of their customers have fallen on hard times because of COVID-19.
BWL Chief Executive Officer Dick Peffley told News 10 how much the monthly debt has grown.
“Typically, we have about a million dollars of debt a month, pre-pandemic,” Peffley said. “That’s up to $11 million now. So, we need to nudge our customers along.”
Peffley said he understands there’s a bigger issue going on aside from what is happening with their bottom line.
“We know that if you’re having troubles paying your utility bill, you’re probably having trouble paying other bills,” Peffley said. “So, we don’t want to exasperate that problem.”
So they came up with a solution; A financial pandemic relief fair.
“What we thought we would do is reach out to other community partners,” Peffley said. “They’re going to come together at these pandemic relief fairs that we’re going to have on Tuesday and Wednesday so that we can help you with your whole household finances.”
According to Peffley, he says it’s important for those who have a delinquent account to keep in contact with BWL. Otherwise, they’ll be forced to take action and possibly shut down their power.
Peffley said, “Those that are not communicating with us are most likely to have their utility service interrupted. If you’re communicating with us and saying you can have some money next week, we want to work with you.”
The Lansing Board of Water and Light says they are willing to work with anyone regardless of how outstanding their bill might be.
The financial pandemic relief fair is set for Tuesday at Gier Community Center, and Wednesday at the Alfreda Schmidt Community Center. Further details on the financial pandemic relief fair on the company’s website.
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