LYONS- Over the past few years, I have had many different people ask me what causes the town to turn off someone’s power.

Very often payments get put on the bottom of the “to do” pile, or the check is written and put some place safe (never to be found again), or one just forgets. All of these are incidents that have happened in my own household. I received my letter of warning that I owed the town for the previous month’s billing cycle, and the door knocker at my front door, and I decided I couldn’t be the only person this happens to. Can I?

So I went to Town Hall, and asked Jacque Watson, Deputy Town Clerk and Utility Clerk some questions.

I discovered that about 10 years ago the town’s utilities were a mess. The utilities were in debt by tens of thousands of dollars because of non-payment. Some customers were so far behind they didn’t even bother to pay, while other customers who were terminated (no longer received service, not in the Arnold Schwarzenegger way) never paid their outstanding balances. Interest was accumulating on the overdue amounts, making it almost impossible for people to catch up on their bills or for the town to have any form of recourse.

That is when the Town Code was examined, and the regulations that we currently follow were put into place. The first regulation, which I think is quite the privilege, is that the town does not charge interest on overdue balances for utilities. The town learned from the previous mess that charging interest just did not motivate residents to pay off their balance due. Many other cities in Boulder County charge interest on past due balances. The next big thing is that the town does everything it can to avoid having to turn a late payment or a non-payment over to a collection agency. Therefore if you pay your bill a few days late, it is not going to show up on your credit report. This does not mean the town has never used a collection agency or needed to report past-due amounts. If a person has skipped out on a bill, and payment is needed but no effort is being made to do something, sometimes action is taken and a collection agency is brought into the picture. The other course of action allowed by the Lyons Municipal Code is that a lien would be put on the property for the delinquency.

But you should know that the town shall do everything it can to avoid these steps, which is why you get several warnings regarding your delinquent statement.

So what drives the letter of warning to be sent? If you look at the dates on your utility bill, you’ll discover that the bill is for the previous month. For example, payment for May was not due until the end of June. If a payment is not received by the due date on the bill, which is the 25th of every month; then it is considered late. Next, if you have not paid this bill by the second Monday of the following month, you will receive a Notice of Delinquency in the mail. If the past due amount is not paid by the third Monday following the due date, you will receive a door knocker delivered to your physical address; just in case you did not receive the letter in the mail. This door knocker lets you know that in two days time your electricity will be turned off. If you pay the past-due amount by 10 a.m. of the morning of shut-off, you will not lose power. But if you don’t make it, your electric will be turned off. Now, to get it turned back on, you will need to pay a $25 turn on fee as well as the past due balance.

Thanks to this set up, the utilities for the Town of Lyons are no longer in the negative. We do not have thousands of users to make up the difference when someone does not pay their utilities on time. Actually we have fewer than 1,000 customers currently in the town of Lyons. It may seem harsh, or like the town is over reacting when you receive a notice of delinquency letter; yet you the consumer, must realize each resident’s payment makes a difference.

The town has the ability to offer relief a couple of different ways. It offers a lowincome utility discount for those who qualify. The guidelines the town uses for this utility discount have recently been amended to be compatible with state and federal guidelines. If you want to know if you qualify for this discount, check out the chart that is on display in the Post Office or at Town Hall. In some instances, a delinquent billing may be paid over a period of several months, as long as the current bill is paid on time during this period. This is an advantageous way to get through a difficult period, as long as you are diligent about being on time with your payment. However, if you are ever late during this contracted period, you would be shut off immediately, so it is not the answer for everyone.

I realize how frustrated you get with yourself when you forget to take care of the utility bill. Another reason that drove me to write this article was the reaction many people have when they go into Town Hall to pay a past due bill. Remember, your being late has nothing to do with the person behind the counter taking your payment. He or she is just following the code that was put in place by your elected officials. So using abusive language isn’t going to get your electric turned on any quicker. Try to keep this in mind next time you receive one of those letters in the mail.

Now, if I can just find where I put my utility bill so I can pay it next week…

Kris Hicar is a Lyons Town Board Trustee. She lives with her husband and two children in Lyons and sometimes misplaces her utility bill.

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