From Northern Neck Electric Cooperative:
Governor Ralph Northam ended Virginia’s COVID-19 State of Emergency on June 30. As a result, the residential utility disconnection moratorium will end on August 29.
To help members during the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative temporarily suspended service disconnections due to nonpayment of bills. The state later imposed a disconnect moratorium for the duration of the state of emergency.
Electric co-ops are built by, and belong to, the communities they serve. That community focus continues to drive the co-op as it responds to COVID-19 challenges and local concerns.
Co-op staff is ready to work with any members who are carrying a past-due electric service balance due to COVID-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative has regularly reached out to past-due members in the hopes of establishing payment arrangements.
“While the cooperative has made incredible efforts to ease the burden placed on our members, we’ve continued to stress that this would only be a temporary delay of disconnects,” said Richard McLendon, vice president of member services. “In fairness to all of our cooperative members, everyone with outstanding debt should make a plan for repayment. Our trained Member Services Representatives are ready and eager to help members make these plans.”
Not-for-profit electric co-ops like NNEC have no shareholders and routinely return excess revenues to their members. Because of this structure and the desire to keep energy costs as low as possible, some co-ops have more limited reserve margins to sustain higher rates of nonpayment.
In 2020 and 2021 the NNEC Board of Directors voted to return capital credits earlier to members to help when it was needed most.
Please contact the cooperative now to make payment arrangements if you are behind on your electric bill to avoid being disconnected. If you are 30 days or more past-due, you are being offered a COVID-19 Relief Repayment Plan at this time.
Speak to a member service representative by calling 804-333-3621 or by using our “Contact Us” option at nnec.coop or going to https://www.nnec.coop/content/contact-us
