LEFT WITH POWERLESS FEELING
Former utility worker Sam Thompson said he was surprised and angry when Nevada Power Co. employees refused to grant his 89-year-old mother an extension on the first electric bill she has missed paying in 27 years in Las Vegas.
Nevada Power officials on Monday were rude and told him to either pay the $179 she owed immediately or his mother’s power would be disconnected later in the day, Thompson said.
“When your mom gets old,” the son told one utility representative, “I hope you remember this conversation.”
Rick Hackman, manager of the Public Utilities Commission, did not know the specifics of Thompson’s complaint. However, Hackman said Nevada Power starts sending numerous disconnection notices to delinquent customers in the fall.
Hackman explained that state rules prohibit Nevada Power from disconnecting customers for nonpayment when the National Weather Service predicts temperatures will reach 105 degrees or higher the following day.
“The idea is to keep people alive during the worst heat of the summer time,” Hackman said. Regulators do not want someone getting sick or dying because they cannot afford to keep the air conditioner running.
“There are weeks and weeks and weeks they go when they can’t turn people off,” Hackman said.
The peak season for disconnection notices runs from mid-September to November for Nevada Power, said Vern Christensen, manager of customer care at the utility.
“At times, we would have several thousand people eligible to be disconnected,” Christensen said. “Based on the workload, we cannot get to all of them (immediately).”
Nevada Power has 817,000 customers.
“We feel that customers should pay for what they use and not just have an open check book,” he said.
Some customers are so far behind in payments by autumn that the past due amount is overwhelming, Hackman said.
Christensen said some customers, often retirees on fixed incomes, are unable to pay bills. Nevada Power and other organizations have programs that provide financial to help low-income customers having difficulty paying bills.
“We have another group of customers that chooses not to pay until their backs are up against the wall,” Christensen said.
But Rita Thompson had a different problem, her son said. She forgets to pay bills because of her age. She had missed only one power bill when he learned of the disconnection notice, Sam Thompson said.
Rita Thompson also has problems hearing and understanding what people are saying on the phone, he said. Sam Thompson intervened and asked Nevada Power to give her more time to pay before disconnecting service.
In his fourth call to Nevada Power on Monday, a supervisor told him “have a good day” and hung up.
Thompson drove to Nevada Power and paid the amount owed.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act prohibits the utility from discussing an individual’s billing situation, Christensen said. But he and Hackman, outlined billing rules.
Power bills are due when the customer receives them, Hackman said. Bills from Nevada Power are overdue 15 days after the date the bill was issued.
At that point, Nevada Power may send a 10-day notice of its intention to disconnect if the bill is not paid.
“They prefer to give good-paying customers some slack,” Hackman said.
If the customer has a history of late payments, Nevada Power will wait until the end of 10 days. Then, the company sends one last notice of its intention to cut service if payment is not received within 48 hours.
Nevada Power will give customers another 48 hours before disconnection — if the customer has notified the utility that someone 62 years old or older lives in the residence, Christensen said.
In addition, the company will send copies of any disconnection notices to family members of an elderly customer so a son or daughter can make sure power is not disconnected, Christensen said.
The customer must agree to allow other family members to receive the notices, however.
The younger Thompson retired as a manager at the Aladdin Theater, but he worked for San Diego Gas & Electric and his father worked for the California utility company for 37 years. So Sam Thompson thinks he knows how utility representatives should treat customers.
Nevada Power’s “attitude is totally out of line,” Thompson said. Another customer in line with him at the utility office used profanity to express similar sentiments, he said.
“Their popularity is not very good,” Sam Thompson said, “and this makes it even worse.”
Christensen defended the utility company.
“We really try to be courteous to everyone,” he said.
Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0420.