§ 55.10 PENALTY FOR DELINQUENT BILLS.

   (A)   The water supply may be shut off from any premises for which the bill remains unpaid for 45 days or more after it is rendered. When shut off, such service shall not be renewed except upon payment of the charges due plus $50 for turning on the water. Prior to any service disconnection, the village shall send notice to the owner of record at the owner’s last known address or the owner’s duly authorized designee, and the occupant of the property, a notice which shall be printed in red and which shall be substantially similar to the following:

 

Issuance date:                                   Effective date:    Utility name                                     Customer name and address    Utility contact information                              Customer account number URGENT! This is a DISCONNECTION NOTICE! Your utility service is in danger of disconnection because of unpaid and delinquent account charges. In order to stop disconnection, you must contact the Village and make full payment of the delinquent account or, pursuant to your statutory rights, make arrangements for a payment plan. If you have recently paid, please contact us to confirm that the service will not be disconnected. You can be shut off on or after (effective date), and you can still be shut off until (date notice expires 30 days after initial shutoff date) or we send you a new notice to replace this one. Residential customers have certain rights regarding this notice, including the right to a deferred payment arrangement and the potential to stop disconnection for 60 days and start a medical payment arrangement if a doctor or local board of health contacts us directly on behalf of a patient living in your household. Please see the reverse side of this notice for further details of your rights. You will lose many of your rights if you wait to do something until after disconnection. If you have questions or concerns about this notice, please contact us immediately at: Village of Lakemoor Water Billing, 28581 Route 120, Lakemoor, Illinois or call [phone]. If we are unable to assist you, you have a right to contact and review your rights with the government agency that regulates us: The Illinois Commerce Commission's Consumer Services Division can be reached at 1-800-524-0795 (TTY1-800-858-9277). **The following to appear on the reverse side of the above Notice: Your rights and responsibilities regarding this notice: Payment methods: The Village accepts cash, checks or credit cards to pay balances due. Credit cards may be subject to an additional fee. Deferred Payment Arrangement (DPA): You may be eligible for a payment plan known as a DPA in order to prevent disconnection unless you failed to complete a previous DPA in the past 12 months. Please contact us at [phone] to ask about payment options to avoid disconnection. Reinstatement: You can reinstate a previous DPA that defaulted by catching up with all the payments that were due up to now. We may charge you a reinstatement fee unless this is your first time reinstating the DPA. Renegotiation: If you lose or change income, you may be able to renegotiate your DPA. Financial Aid: Help with utility bills may be found in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Along with the aid, LIHEAP qualification gives you extra rights. Contact LIHEAP at [phone]. We may know of other aid available. To find out, contact us at [phone]. Medical Certification: If you haven't used a medical certificate in the past 12 months or you paid off a previous medical certificate, a medical certificate from a doctor or local board of health can stop disconnection for 60 days or have service restored as long as they contact us within 14 days after shutoff. The medical certificate must contain: 1)   Name and contact information for the doctor or board of health; 2)   Your service address and the name of the patient; 3)   A statement that the patient lives at the address; and 4)   A statement that disconnection of utility service will aggravate an existing medical emergency or create a medical emergency for the patient. The doctor or local board of health can call us to certify, but they must provide a written medical certificate with the above information within 5 days after calling. The medical certificate also puts you on a medical payment arrangement to pay off the bill over time. The term of the payment plan will be better if we receive the certificate before your service is disconnected. Active Duty Military: If someone living with you is on active U.S. military duty, State law offers certain protections for your electricity and natural gas service. Please contact us if someone in your household is on active duty. Deposits: We can demand a deposit from you if we shut you off or if you pay late 4 times and carry a past due balance older than 30 days at any time in a 12 month period. The deposit will be about twice the size of your average bill, and you can pay it in 3 installments. You can be disconnected for not paying a deposit. Reconnection: If we shut you off, your service will be restored when you pay in full or take care of the problem if we shut you off for something other than a bill or deposit. You may be required to pay a reconnection fee. Complaints: If you have a complaint or problem with us, do not wait until after we shut you off to try to take care of it! If you contact us to try to take care of a problem, we must try to work with you to resolve or explain the problem. If we can't help you, you can contact the Illinois Commerce Commission's Consumer Services Division at: 1-800-524-0795 (TTY 1-800-858-9277). Before calling the ICC, you must try to work things out with us first. Please call us at [phone]. Regulations: You can review the main set of rules that affect you at http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/083/08300280sections.html.

 

      (B)   The village shall, upon the date given for disconnection, attempt to contact the owner and the tenant of the property prior to the actual disconnection. All service disconnections shall take place before 2:00 p.m. on a non-holiday weekday when the village has normal business hours. Upon disconnection of the sewer, the village shall immediately red-tag the residence as a declaration that such residence is uninhabitable and immediately notify the County Department of Health that such service has been disconnected and the property issued a red-tag. Once all fees are paid in full, the village will schedule the reconnection at the first availability of the reconnection service.

(Ord. 04-O-06, passed 5-27-2004; Ord. 10-O-03, passed 1-28-2010; Ord. 16-O-20, passed 9-8-2016; Ord. 18-O-22, passed 7-17-2018)