Hirono, colleagues urge utilities against shutoffs, penalties amid gov’t shutdown

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Hawai’i Democrat, joined eight of her Senate colleagues in sending letters to 22 major utility companies urging them to avoid shuttoffs and penalties for late or missed payments for federal employees not getting paid during the ongoing government shutdown, which began Oct. 1.

“Without their paycheck, federal workers are at risk of having their electricity, water and broadband services terminated due to temporary inability to pay,” the lawmakers wrote. “The families you serve must have uninterrupted access to these essential public utilities.”

They noted many states have laws protecting residents who face economic challenges from utility disconnections, calling on utilities to extend these protections to federal employees nationwide — to prevent them from facing additional financial hardship or dangerous conditions in their homes amid a government shutdown they had no choice in happening.

“Suspending utility shutoffs for federal workers during a government shutdown is in line with statutory protections across the country,” Hirono and her colleagues wrote, stressing the importance of extending utility disconnection protections nationwide. “However, not all states or localities have such protections and federal workers impacted by the government shutdown live in every corner of our country, including in your service areas.”

There were more than 2.2 million federal civilian workers — with at least 10,000 in 41 of 50 states and at least 1,000 in each U.S. Congressional district — as of July 1.

The group of nine senators, led by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, also points out that affected workers will receive back pay under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, thus allowing any suspended payments to ultimately be repaid.

“Our patriotic, merit-based civil servants work on behalf of the American people every day, delivering essential public services for our country,” the letters add. “While we will continue to do everything in our power to swiftly reopen the government, we urge you to support our federal workers and their families during this challenging time.”

Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and John Hickenlooper of Colorado, as well as Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined Hirono and Van Hollen in signing the letters.

The letters were sent to executives at the following ENERGY FIRMS:

• Exelon Corporation.
• Duke Energy.
• Southern Company.
• FirstEnergy Corporation.
• American Electric Power Company.
• Xcel Energy.
• Entergy Corporation.
• Dominion Energy.
• PPL Corporation.
• Public Service Enterprise Group.
• Ameren Corporation.
• Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Letters also went to these WATER COMPANIES:

• American Water Works Company.
• American States Water Company.
• Essential Utilities.

And the following BROADBAND INTERNET COMPANIES received the correspondences:

• Comcast.
• Charter Communications.
• AT&T.
• Verizon.
• T-Mobile.
• Cox Communications.
• Lumen Technologies.

You can read the letters online.