NYC is following through on a promise to get tough on those who do not pay their water bills by shutting off their service. The Department of Environmental Protection says it has begun shutting off service to five residential properties where owners have not paid their water and sewer bills for months.
The department says the move comes only after sending more than a dozen reminders over the past six months, as well as calling property owners to tell them to pay up.
DEP says it sent notices of termination to 93 customers back in March. Since then all but the five have paid up, with one property owner utilizing the department’s Safety Net Referral program, designed to help people having difficulty paying their bills.
The department’s commissioner says it’s time for a crackdown.
“New York City had a very long history of people not paying their bills, and I think that’s because we’ve never really had effective enforcement,” said DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd. “This is the first time that we have done residential shutoffs for nonpayment of water bills, and we are really very pleased with the success of the program.”
(Source: NY1)
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One Response
Why should that be newsworthy? In the entire world, that’s normal practice. If you don’t pay your gas / water / electricity bills for a while, you’ll get maybe 2 warnings (the second will include a fine, typically) and if you still don’t pay, you’ll have to do without gas / water / electricity, until you pay.