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By Chantal Wagner

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Utility deferrals due, about $2 million in arrears

Aug 11, 2020 | 12:55 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Residents who have been unable to make utility payments due to a layoff, or lack of work due to COVID-19 will now have to begin paying again.

This follows the city’s 90-day deferral program that ended in June. During that time, customers were not charged a penalty, did not receive a disconnect warning fee, and were not disconnected for not paying their bill if they accessed the program.

Superintendent of Customer Service & Collections Denise Schmaltz says the City of Medicine Hat has approximately $2 million dollars in various stages of overdue utility payments.

Which represents about 19 percent of their customer base, or 5,300 utility accounts.

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“During the high point of the program, we had approximately 26 percent (6,900 utility accounts) of our utility accounts exercising the deferral options. So the number is decreasing and it’s very encouraging. Customers are working very hard at setting up payment arrangements and trying to work hard on repaying those arrears.”

At the end of August, customers who are in arrears will start noticing that collection activity will start resuming as they receive disconnect warning notices.

Customers that are in arrears are asked to contact collections to set up payment options and find out what options are available.

“Early contact is important,” Schmaltz said. “If you contact collections prior to receiving a disconnect warning notice, you help reduce some of the service fees that are charged to your utility account.”

Options available include setting up an arrears repayment plan.

“Where you would spread out your utility deferred amounts over the next 12 months. So on that plan, a customer would pay their current utility bill plus a portion of their deferred utilities each month,” Schmaltz said.

Customers who own their own property also have the option of having utility arrears transferred over to their property tax.

Schmaltz says customers who are able to can pay by credit card with no fees.

And by working with city collections, they can help send referrals to social agencies for support if none of the options work.

Meantime, property taxes were mailed on July 24. The extended deferral amount for property taxes is due September 30.

Schmaltz says they have noticed a substantial amount of payments coming through and to date, 36 percent of property tax payments have been received.

“People who have been able to pay their property tax have been paying their taxes which is a great sign,” she said.

If you are in arrears, contact collections@medicinehat.ca or 403-529-8113 to make payment arrangements or see what options are available.

The city also reminds residents not to give out their credit card number to people calling and asking for it. Adding, that residents need to call the city of Medicine Hat directly to pay their taxes or utilities. The city will not call customers.

Schmaltz adds, “One of our customers called in this afternoon (Tuesday) to advise that someone with a Saskatchewan phone number tried to impersonate the City of Medicine Hat and asked them for their credit card number.”