Mayor John Giles and the Mesa City Council instructed city staff to write new ordinances to help ensure low-income residents don’t lose power during Arizona’s hot summer months.
In his State of the City address Tuesday morning, Giles said the new ordinance will ban the city from shutting off water or electricity during excessive heat warnings.
“Also, we’re announcing a discount on water service charge for fixed-income seniors,” Giles said. “And we are generously increasing the funds that we allocate to assist low income customers with their utility payments.”
The city also plans to ease the cap on how far customers can fall behind on their utility bills, from $50 to $150, before their service is cut off.
Mesa provides electricity to roughly 16,000 residential and commercial customers around the city’s downtown core.
