COVID-19 and Racism Pandemics: No More Business as Usual
Posted on June 12, 2020 by Bob Jenks
Tags, Energy, Telecommunications, Water/Wastewater, General Interest
On June 9, 2020, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) held a public meeting on the “Impact of Residential Utility Customers during COVID-19 Pandemic and Future Recovery”, where CUB was invited to testify. I discussed the COVID-19 pandemic in the broader context of protests against the murder of George Floyd, and joined thousands of Oregonians in saying that Black Lives Matter. Right now, we are facing two pandemics: COVID-19 and racism. The two pandemics interact and feed each other, with significant impact on utility customers, resulting in CUB’s demand that utility companies cannot continue with business as usual.
Oregon is forecasting an unemployment rate of more than 20 percent, with an estimate of unemployment remaining above 10 percent for two years. Unemployment has not been this high since the Great Depression.
The virus and unemployment both disproportionately affect people of color. During the June 9 public PUC meeting, CUB stressed that black people and other people of color have less access to white collar jobs that allow working from home. This means that black and other people of color are more threatened by COVID-19, due to a greater likelihood of having jobs that cannot be done with adequate social distancing. And at the same time, black and other people of color are more likely to have jobs that have essentially been sacrificed for the public health of everyone. Acknowledging the systemic inequities revealed by this combination of COVID-19 and racism is vitally important as we address the economic fallout of the virus and its impact on utility systems.
Recognizing the economic impacts of COVID-19, utilities swiftly adopted moratoriums on service disconnections, which CUB supported. As Oregon begins to reopen, utility companies are considering when to lift their moratoriums. COVID-19 is still spreading, however, and the economy is at best in a serious recession and may well be headed toward a depression. CUB strongly rejects a business-as-usual approach by utilities regarding their moratoriums.
At the PUC meeting, utility representatives, the Community Action Partnership of Oregon (CAPO) and CUB participated in two invited panels. The first panel emphasized immediate COVID-19 impacts. Current low-income programs do not meet the pre-COVID-19 need, with resources only covering the needs of about 20 percent of households who require assistance. Even with the allocation of federal coronavirus relief dollars into state and federal energy bill assistance programs, more resources will be needed.
The second panel, including CUB, focused on the future. CUB stressed that it is essential that utility shutoff moratoriums do not end without a plan to protect customers. A COVID-19 Utility Consumer Protection Plan requires data. Current shutoff report requirements are not adequate. Also needed is more information about unpaid bills (frequently called arrearages), debt, and the number of customers who would likely become disconnected when a moratorium is lifted.
CUB also outlined critical elements of a COVID-19 Utility Consumer Protection Plan:
- What economic recovery thresholds should be met before lifting shutoff moratoriums
- With the virus uncontained, what conditions will require reimposing a shutoff moratorium
- Customer notification requirements before a moratorium can be lifted
- Expectations about payment of current bills
- How to address past due bills including options such as debt forgiveness, not adding interest payments, multi-year payment plans, deferral of debt payments, and rate discounts
CUB recommends a comprehensive plan that covers all utilities regulated by the PUC, with input from a wide community of stakeholders and oversight by the PUC. Such a plan could then provide a model for utilities that are not state regulated: public power, municipal water and sewer, and broadband.
The plan must be grounded in a recognition that families are hurting. The economic impacts are severe, fall most heavily on communities of color, and were done to protect the health of all of us. We cannot turn our backs on the many people of color and others either in “essential” service positions or who have lost their jobs in the resulting recession, especially since so many have suffered disproportionate economic and health impacts.
Developing such a plan must include diverse stakeholders, especially input from organizations with “on the ground” experience like Verde and Community Energy Project, whose representatives gave compelling testimony at the PUC hearing.
At the close of the June 9 meeting, CUB was pleased to hear that the PUC has formed a COVID-19 response team that pulls in expertise from across the agency. We appreciate their leadership and signals of cooperation from utilities. Throughout and beyond this response period, CUB will be a strong voice protecting the interests of residential customers and demanding that utilities not take a business-as-usual approach to this devastating economic and social crisis.
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06/18/20 | 0 Comments | COVID-19 and Racism Pandemics: No More Business as Usual