Albert Lea residents who have fallen behind in their electricity and gas payments have until Sunday to arrange for payment, or risk having gas an electricity service disconnected.

Thursday, April 12, 2001

Albert Lea residents who have fallen behind in their electricity and gas payments have until Sunday to arrange for payment, or risk having gas an electricity service disconnected.

The cold weather moratorium on service disconnection for no payment ends Sunday, and Alliant Energy officials are urging customers to make payment arrangements as soon as possible.

Cold winter temperatures and increased natural gas prices led to an 18 percent increase in delinquent accounts from last year, said Alliant media relations representative Dan Presser. More than 22,000 Alliant customers in Minnesota and northern Iowa are behind in their payments.

&uot;Some may have paid their bill two months ago, but didn’t make it last month, others may be a year behind,&uot; he said.

The delinquent accounts total $3.8 million, a 124 percent increase from last year, Presser said.

The figures indicate that more people will be disconnected than last year, he said.

&uot;Last year we had to disconnect 1,856 people in April,&uot; Presser said. &uot;Based on these numbers, it could be more, but in an ideal world, we don’t want to have to disconnect one.&uot;

Alliant customers who are behind in their payments should contact the company at 1-800-alliant before the Sunday deadline to make payment arrangements and avoid a possible discontinuation of services. The lines are open 24 hours a day, and are less busy after 7 p.m., representatives said.

&uot;We want to work with all our customers who are having a difficult time paying their bills, but we can only do that if they contact us,&uot; said Theresa Mulford, managing director of customer information and services.