Oshawa Power has started a ‘Compassion Fund’ to assist residential customers that are having difficulty paying their bills.
With the disconnection moratorium ending on July 31, 2020 some Oshawa electricity customers may be challenged with an overwhelming balance. Oshawa Power realizes that for many of their customers the ‘new normal’ has not yet arrived, many are still facing financial hardships, said a company statement.
The purpose of this fund is to help families who are facing financial hardship due to Covid-19 or another life event. With the stipulations that are present on other financial assistance programs some find they do not qualify; the Compassion Fund can help those families, the statement said.
“This program has been developed to help those who have not accessed any of the existing programs and are “falling through the cracks”. Our team really cares; they were worried about those customers and the difficulties they are facing. They came to me with this idea of a Compassion Fund, which I thought was terrific. We are here to help,” says Ivano Labricciosa, President and CEO of Oshawa Power.
“Disconnecting service is a last resort. It is an ineffective measure that does not help our customers and it creates a cycle that they find hard to get out of. The Compassion Fund not only staves off disconnection but helps customers bring their accounts back into good standing” said Susanna Beckstead, Vice President of Finance, Corporate and Business Services.
“If we continue down the line of collection notices and disconnections then we are fueling the cycle. If we help people out of a situation that has caused a hardship, then we have really helped someone get back on their feet.” Beckstead added.
Oshawa Power’s Compassion Fund is not funded by ratepayers and is available to all Oshawa Power Residential Customers. The funds are limited, and applications will be processed in the order they are received. The assistance is only if the account balance is past due. Funding will not exceed $150 per household and will not exceed the arrears amount. To learn more about the Compassion Fund or to apply visit opuc.on.ca/compassion-fund.
“The team here at Oshawa Power are always looking for ways to give back to our community where we live and work; this fund is another example of Oshawa Power giving back to the community they have been a part of for over 130 years”, Labricciosa adds.
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