New extreme heat law goes into effect July 23: Eight roundtable takeaways

On June 16, AWC co-hosted a virtual discussion with the Washington Association of Sewer & Water Districts and the Washington Public Utility Districts Association regarding Washington’s new extreme heat law going into effect July 23. During the roundtable, Reid Wolcott from the National Weather Service provided an overview of heat risk forecasting, watch and warning products and criteria, and examples of alerts that utilities may see. In addition to key takeaways outlined below, the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) has put together a comprehensive blogpost on the extreme heat law and waiving municipal utility connection charges. Finally, we solicited questions about the law from cities and utilities, which we submitted to the Attorney General’s Office for their response. A PDF of those answers can be found here.

Here are eight key takeaways from the discussion:

1. Customers must be notified of reconnection options. When a utility issues a notice of disconnection to a customer due to non-payment, the notice must also inform the customer of the ability to reconnect electric or water services during heat-related events. The disconnection notice must contain clear and specific information about how a customer may make such a request, including instructions on how to contact the utility.
2. Reconnections are only required for customers who have been previously disconnected due to non-payment. Disconnections due to vacancies, maintenance, etc., are not included in the law.
3. A qualifying heat-related event is any specific day (or a period of days) for which the National Weather Service (NWS) has issued or has announced that it intends to issue a heat-related alert. Examples include an excessive heat warning, a heat advisory, an excessive heat watch, or a similar alert — for the area in which the residential user's address is located. *More details on heat events can be found below.
4. Some utilities are opting to not disconnect customers during warmer months. Regardless of your city’s plan, a policy should be drafted and in place for how to handle requests for reconnection.
5. Utilities may require customers requesting reconnection to enter into a repayment plan. Payment plans may not exceed 6% of the customer’s monthly income. The law is silent on what constitutes monthly income (gross income, take-home pay, etc.) and how income is verified. Some utilities are considering using verification of income similar to what is required for federal low-income assistance or use self-certification.
6. Several utilities have decided not to charge reconnection fees or require payment plans. The law is silent on whether reconnection fees may be charged when heat alerts are issued.
7. University of Iowa has a searchable database with history of all heat advisories. This may prove to be a useful tool for fulfilling annual reporting requirements for disconnections during heat alerts.
8. Commerce is expected to provide guidance on the annual reporting requirements. The law requires utilities with more than 25,000 retail electric customers or 2,500 water customers to submit an annual report to the Department of Commerce that includes the total number of disconnections that occurred on each day for which the NWS issued, or announced that it intended to issue, a heat-related alert. Utilities with fewer than 25,000 retail electric customers or 2,500 water customers must provide similar information to Commerce upon request.

*Examples of excessive heat durations:

• Excessive Heat Warning
  • Example: “The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Warning for the Seattle / Tacoma Metropolitan area for Saturday, July 15, 2023”
  • Would apply to the 24 hours of Saturday, July 15, 2023.
• Excessive Heat Advisory
  • Example: “The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Advisory for the Seattle / Tacoma Metropolitan area for Saturday, July 15, and Sunday, July 16, 2023”
  • Would apply to the 48 hours starting on Saturday, July 15 through Sunday, July 16, 2023.
• Excessive Heat Watch
  • Example: “The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Watch for the Seattle / Tacoma Metropolitan area for Saturday, July 15, 2023”
  • Would apply to the 24 hours of Saturday, July 15, 2023.
• Excessive Heat Outlook
  • Example: “The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Outlook for the Seattle / Tacoma Metropolitan area for Saturday, July 15, and Sunday, July 16, 2023”
  • Would apply to the 48 hours starting on Saturday, July 15 through Sunday, July 16, 2023.