The number of APS customers with overdue accounts has grown after regulators barred the company from disconnecting power for failing to pay their monthly bills.
The move was ordered by the Arizona Corporation Commission when it was discovered that several APS customers had died after they were unable to pay their utility bills.
President Jeff Guldner talked to financial analysts during a second-quarter earnings call for APS parent company Pinnacle West on Thursday. He said the temporary moratorium on shutting off power to customers who don’t pay their bills has created predictable results.
“One of the things that we’re focused on is how we’re going to engage customers with community support organizations on Oct. 15 when the moratorium comes up, and we know we’re going to have a circumstance where a lot of customers will be behind four months of summer bills," Guldner said.
Guldner said APS is working with nonprofit groups on how it will handle delinquent accounts after the shutoff moratorium ends.
Neither he nor other top APS executives discussed how the overdue accounts are expected to affect its earnings.
