City to revisit utility policy

Bonners Ferry City Council members heard public testimonies on Tuesday regarding the city’s current billing and collection policy on the upgrade requirement of external disconnects upon shutoff for non-payment.

The city’s policy requires an external disconnect for new services and they are trying to get all of the services upgraded.

After the public comment period this week, the board unanimously agreed that the topic should be tabled until the next meeting and that further discussion was in order.

Currently, if an individual’s power is disconnected due to non-payment, and an external disconnect is not in place, it is required by city standards, to install an external disconnect before the electric service will be energized.

During the last council meeting, Mayor David Sims proposed an alternative to that requirement, recommending that the city could require the upgrade upon the sale of the property, instead of when services are disconnected due to non-payment.

Sims said he felt it was an unfair policy and that he did not think the city should require citizens to pay an additional $300 to $1,000 to have their power turned back on when they could barely afford to pay their regular bill.

“Especially,” Sims said, “when some of the city facilities don’t even have the upgraded, external disconnect.”

Sims said he checked with six neighboring utilities and found that none of them have a similar requirement and that the external disconnect is not required by the National Electric Code.

However, after listening to the concerns of electric department employees, the council had decided to continue with the current policy, in addition to requiring the service upgrade with changes of ownership.

The council had unanimously approved the changes to the policy and it was to be formally approved as a resolution at this week’s council meeting, however, after four members of the community presented their testimonies, the council agreed that the topic deserved further discussion.

The subject will be revisited Nov 1, at the council’s next meeting.