Thousands of Nashvillians have struggled to pay their electric bills during the pandemic, so the city’s power utility is extending a trio of leniency policies through the end of July.
Nashville Electric Services announced Tuesday that it will hold off on disconnecting power and continue waiving late fees and absorbing the processing costs for credit card transactions
The agency cites “uncertain economic times” and the disasters of tornado, pandemic, and economic downturn.
NES says it did not act on approximately 23,000 possible disconnections, and that it has waived $1.9 million in late fees since March.
Customers will still be expected to catch up on their base bills. Those who still owe will start to be charged overdue amounts. Those costs will be spread into installments over the next 12 months. Late fees will not be charged again until Aug. 1.
As part of the pandemic response, Piedmont Natural Gas also halted disconnections.
Metro Water, meanwhile, stopped charging late fees and says it has collected most of what it’s billing. The utility tells WPLN News that 315 water customers have requested payment deferrals.
More information about city services and pandemic aid are on asafenashville.org.
This story was updated to reflect a new count provided Tuesday by Metro Water.
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