The Lansing Board of Water and Light is working with more than a dozen state and local agencies to help customers catch up on past due payments.
On Wednesday, BWL hosted what it calls a “pandemic resource fair” to help customers get the funding they need to pay their utilities.
General Manager Dick Peffley says the company first tried this project last fall, hoping for 100 people.
Instead, about 1,000 turned out. Peffley says the utility wants to help its customers become more financially secure.
“If you’re behind on your utilities, you’re probably struggling elsewhere,” Peffley said. “So we wanted to make this well-rounded to help customers and the residents of the greater Lansing area in every aspect that we could.”
Peffley says BWL and its partners can access state and federal dollars.
“So, we make that connection and help them get the funding, which is sometimes hard for the average customer to navigate. And so, we get those resources, they pay their bills, they’re happy and we get to lower our outstanding debt.”
Peffley says BWL’s monthly outstanding debt jumped from about $1 million prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to about $11 million.
The utility will host a second “pandemic resource fair” next Tuesday, March 15 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Letts Community Center in Lansing.