With winter moratorium ending, energy customers must begin paying off bills

State law prohibits energy companies from shutting off the power of delinquent customers’ homes between Nov. 1 and April 15.

Now that the moratorium ends on Sunday, companies are looking for payments again.

It’s not a large number of customers out there that need to pay, but the sum of money owed adds up.

Chris Oulette with Xcel Energy said that 12 percent of customers owe around $8.6 million.

‘It’s very expensive for us,” Oulette said. “It’s very expensive for the customer.

“We work very closely with these customers to come up with any type of payment arrangement for them. The best thing they can do is call us.”

Oulette added that customers should beware of who’s trying to contact customers about their bills.

“These scammers are calling customers, telling them that they are late on their bills, and if they don’t pay up we are going to disconnect them” she said. “We don’t make those types of phone calls or those types of threats.”

Oulette says if you have a question about your debts, call their office, and they can set up a payment plan with you.