APS beginning to collect on delinquent summer utility bills

PHOENIX — If you haven’t paid your APS bills in months — and have been allowed to keep your air conditioner on over the summer — that arrangement ends now.

APS says 88,000 delinquent customers owe $30.6 million in summer utility bills.

“We currently are about three times where we have been in total delinquent dollars from years past,” said Annette Carrier, APS program manager.

APS will put customers who owe at least $75 on four-month payment plans. They have 30 days to start paying, or lose their power.

“And then in addition to that would be any of their current charges,” Carrier said.

Arizona’s Corporation Commission ordered utilities that it oversees, including APS, to freeze disconnects after a 72-year-old Sun City West woman died in the heat.

APS cut her power after she fell behind in her bills.

Now, APS has 30 “touch points,” or ways to connect with customers, who could receive several calls informing them of how and when to pay their bills.

“We want to absolutely make sure our vulnerable customers understand that there are resources available to them,” Carrier said.

“If those dollars go unpaid, it’s going to impact all customers.”

Follow @ktarpetersamore