Long Beach utilities have begun shutting off gas service for customers who are behind on payments for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting Sunday, gas shutoffs will affect residential accounts that are more than $800 overdue, as noted in a memo from Kevin Riper, the city’s Director of Financial Management. Previously, the threshold for shutoffs was just $50.
This change comes after a policy reinstated in August 2023 allowed water shutoffs for accounts with balances over $800 that are more than 60 days late. Currently, the total unpaid residential gas bills exceeding 120 days amounts to over $6.4 million.
Despite these figures, unpaid utility bills make up a small portion of the city’s overall revenue. The total for late payments across gas, water, refuse, and sewer services is $13.6 million, which is only 3.7% of all fee revenue collected last year.
The city has postponed the resumption of late fees until March 2025, focusing instead on collecting overdue payments this fall. Legal action will also begin to recover late payments, but debts older than two years may be written off, according to Riper. Debts older than three years are not collectible under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
In comparison, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power lifted its COVID shutoff moratorium and restarted collections on late payments in March 2022, two years after it began.
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