POWER OFF: Utilities for 80+ Alexandria residents disconnected during Cenla’s hottest week of 2023 - KALB

POWER OFF: Utilities for 80+ Alexandria residents disconnected during Cenla’s hottest week of 2023

What are the City of Alexandria’s guidelines on shutting off utilities during extreme weather?

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - On Monday, June 26, the City of Alexandria disconnected utility service to 83 customer accounts. From June 26 to June 30, the afternoon heat index temperatures reached highs of over 108 degrees, making it the hottest week Central Louisiana has experienced this year.

On June 26, KALB received a tip from an 83-year-old disabled man who requested to stay anonymous. He shared with News Channel 5 that he was at the Alexandria Utility Office and his utility service was shut off that morning. He was worried about how he would fare in the heat and said others in similar situations were at the office trying to get their utilities turned back on.

“I had to sleep in a hotel that night, a friend paid for that,” he told KALB. “The person in front of me owed $5,300. He paid the $5,000, and they wanted the additional $300 to get the utilities back on instead of working with him.”

According to Alexandria’s Director of Utilities, Mike Marcotte, our anonymous tipster had a balance of over $2,000, and had only made six partial payments in the past 16 months.

By the time KALB interviewed the tipster at the Alexandria Utility Office, the National Weather Service reported that temperatures with heat index in Alexandria had reached 100 degrees, and would increase to 108 degrees later that afternoon.

The extreme heat and residents’ utilities being disconnected led KALB to inquire if there were any rules and regulations in place to protect residents in this situation. It was discovered that no such rules existed for the City of Alexandria.

“In short, there are no rules and regulations that detail when the City cannot disconnect utilities,” Marcotte said in a June 30 email.

The City of Alexandria is one of 20 municipal-owned utility systems in Louisiana. Those utility systems are regulated by local governments. In Alexandria, that means the Alexandria City Council.

Utility companies like Cleco are regulated by the Louisiana Public Service Commission and must abide by strict guidelines that direct when utility service can be disconnected during extreme weather.

According to LPSC, during extreme cold and heat, no electric or gas utilities can be shut off to customers during extreme weather. Specifically, during extreme heat, utilities cannot be shut off when “the nearest National Weather Service issues a heat advisory.”

“It’s just common sense,” said LPSC District 4 Commissioner Mike Francis. “When it’s an excessive heat advisory, that means the weather is dangerous, and we need to stay cool, it’s our choice to protect our citizens by not allowing the public utilities to turn the power off when it’s excessive heat.”

On June 26, when over 80 customers in Alexandria had their utilities disconnected, Cleco could not do the same due to the LPSC guidelines. Cleco released the statement below to News Channel 5.

Again, it is important to note that the Alexandria Utility Department is not regulated by the LPSC. Yet three days after our initial correspondence with Marcotte on the City of Alexandria’s regulations, Marcotte sent an email on July 3 that said the City is directed by Mayor Jacques Roy to follow LPSC guidelines as it relates to disconnects during extreme weather.

“Under Mayor Roy’s previous and current administrations, the city is explicitly directed by the Mayor to follow the LPSC guidance with respect to disconnects for non-payment during extreme weather events,” said Marcotte.

However, if that statement was the case, dozens of customers would not have been disconnected in Alexandria on June 26. Even if Mayor Roy directed the utility department to follow the LPSC guidelines, they are not bound to follow them.

“It would be up to a city like Alexandria to maybe follow suit and pass a similar law,” said Commissioner Francis. “We don’t regulate the city, so it’s none of our business how they handle their customers in the city.”

According to the COA’s code of ordinance, the city reserves the right to turn off utilities despite the temperature outside under these circumstances:

- 11 days after an account is past due, the city reserves the right to terminate primary services
- 45 days after an account is past due, the city reserves the right to terminate all services, final out and close the account
- 60 days after an account is past due, the city reserves the right to send the account to a collection agency.

Marcotte emphasized in an email that the City of Alexandria “routinely exercises its discretion” by extending that 11-day period to 30 days. If the COA’s guidelines were to be changed, it would have to be through the Alexandria City Council by proposing and passing a new ordinance setting regulations within city limits.

This is something the viewer KALB initially spoke with would like to see done to ensure customers are protected in extreme weather conditions. He was able to get his utilities turned back on and catch up with his bill after a donation from a local church. However, that luxury is something not all are lucky to get.

“It hurts my heart that I was able to be helped and knowing how many may not have gotten help and just deal with it,” he told KALB.

During this investigation into the City of Alexandria’s utility service disconnections, Utility Director Mike Marcotte, made targeted claims about two reporters at KALB and their “conflict of interest” in reporting this story. When Marcotte was asked why the customers’ utilities were cut off during the hottest week of the year, Marcotte sent an email to every newsroom employee at KALB that included personal utility bill payment history stating that the reporters involved in the story had been late on payments in the past.

For full transparency, the reporters have been late on payments in the past, not unlike other utility customers in Alexandria. The purpose of the story was to ensure that Alexandria residents are aware of the city’s standards when it comes to utility disconnections in extreme heat.

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