West Lake Norman News

Town of Davidson recently issued the following announcement.

Town of Davidson residents are reminded that the Charlotte Water’s Customer Care Program, which operates in conjunction with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, will expire on December 31, 2020. The program was created to work with customers in order to avoid situations in which a customer could be disconnected for non-payment.

 In March 2020, Charlotte Water launched the first stage of customer care assistance which included discontinuing shutoffs for non-payment as well as the reconnection of previously disconnected customers.  In addition, late fees were not charged on past due balances.  At the time, Governor Cooper issued executive orders stating that utilities were to discontinue disconnections.

 Charlotte Water is working to continue to provide assistance, despite the expiration of Governor Cooper’s previous executive orders, by working with customers to avoid disconnection for nonpayment with: 

• No disconnects- continuing the temporary practice of not disconnecting customers for delinquent account balances,
• No late fees- waiving the 1.5% late fee on past due balances,
• Payment arrangements - automatically placing customers with past due balances as of September 30, 3030, on a 12-month, no interest payment arrangement beginning with the October 2020 bill.  Customers with past due balances should continue to make payments to avoid accumulation of higher past due balances, and
• Financial assistance - using existing partnerships with Crisis Assistance Ministry, The Housing Partnership, Common Wealth Charlotte, and other organizations as models to further develop assistance programs with local non-profits

 Charlotte Water strongly encourages any customers experiencing financial hardships to seek assistance with one of the four assistance programs. These programs are funded now, but the funding expires on December 31, 2020. Davidson residents who receive services through Charlotte Water are eligible.

 Charlotte Water has established the Customer Care Team, a dedicated group of trained customer service professionals to work with customers. Our team will connect customers with community assistance agencies to help pay their bill and work through financial hardships one-on-one.

 For more detailed information from Charlotte Water, including FAQs, please click here.

Original source: https://www.ci.davidson.nc.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1644