We are not asking the New Orleans City Council (CNO) to simply pay these overdue bills outright. That would be like handing out money for one-time repairs but never fixing the leak (which by the way, the Council has already done that..twice this year).
Debt forgiveness programs that match customer payments with additional bill forgiveness over time can be paired with efficiency improvements to lower bills overall, achieving what a single bill payoff cannot: Getting people out of debt and keeping them out of debt.
Let’s say your energy bills have been unusually high, or maybe you’ve faced some unexpected challenges and haven’t been able to keep up with payments. With the program we suggested, you’d enter a 12-18 month payment plan.
We know that payment plans that allow you to spread out your payments over longer periods (12-18 months) enable more people to get out of debt; Covid taught us this lesson. An unpaid bill management program would benefit all residents, because when people can’t pay, everyone else ends up covering the cost. Eventually, increasing access to community owned solar could also be a powerful tool to reduce residents’ utility debt.
For years The Alliance has been urging the Council to approve an unpaid bill management program (often called an Arrearage Management Program or AMP) to create a pathway for residents to get out of utility debt. This effort has only been met with barriers, while more and more New Orleanians struggle.
The biggest challenge has been finding consistent funding to support a long-term program. In 2022 the Council created a working group (inviting the public and interested parties to meet and discuss solutions). When advocates in the group urged the city to devote some ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) funds to a long-term unpaid bill management program, we were told those funds could not be used for this purpose, only to then see the Council allocate $5M of ARPA dollars directly to one time bill payment months later. This was a band-aid “solution” that failed to address the long-term problem.
We want to be clear: That $5M of bill assistance this summer was crucial in keeping residents safe from the extreme heat and humidity. What we are urgently saying is that bill assistance band-aids are not a policy. They only enrich Entergy and sustain energy instability, threatening elders, children, and residents throughout our city, and especially those who depend on electricity for medical devices.
The Alliance has been advocating for programs that solve our worsening energy affordability crisis for decades, but we have never been a direct-service provider. We are currently receiving multiple phone calls daily from residents who are in the dark with no light at the end of the tunnel. In addition to the calls we receive on a regular basis, we are now being told that Entergy customer service is directing these customers to our office.
Federal dollars from the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) that flow through Total Community Action in New Orleans, and local Power to Care funds, are inadequate to address the need in New Orleans, and residents are often given conflicting information about eligibility and available assistance.
Below is the proposal we’ve offered to the Council Arrearage Management Working Group, which has received no formal alternatives or edits from other members of the group, and is supported by HousingNOLA. This kind of program is effective in other states, with other investor owned utilities. We again implore the Council to support the creation of a fund, seeded with ARPA dollars, settlement credits, or even a City budget line item to make lasting policy and address this immediate crisis.
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