EEI has explained in a memo released today how PAYS® is compatible with “A Roadmap to Utility Service as a Human Right” developed by the National Consumer Law Center and co-signed by a number of utility consumer advocacy organizations.
EEI agrees with the principles expressed in the Roadmap, especially that safe, reliable, and affordable energy, water, and sanitation utility services serve essential human needs and that no household should be disconnected from these essential services based on the inability to pay. In fact, PAYS can help make those goals more attainable.
PAYS provides a way to make utility bills more affordable for utility customers by making efficiency upgrades accessible with no credit check or upfront payment, providing immediate improvement in their cash flow, and imposing no new debt obligations. The result over the past 20 years has been no reports of PAYS program participants, including many customers in low-income communities, being disconnected for non-payment of their utility bills.