For years, low-income Iowans have been protected from utility disconnections in the cold of winter, if they meet certain criteria. Now, those same people may be protected in the heat of summer, as well.
House File 114, sponsored by state Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad (D-Des Moines), would apply the same financial based criteria for prohibiting utility disconnections during the months of June, July, and August. There must also exist a “period of extreme heat.”
The bill leaves the definition of a period of “extreme heat” up to the Iowa Utilities Board.
AFSCME Iowa Council 61 has declared its support for HF 114. The Iowa Utilities Board, the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives, the Coalition for Family and Children’s Services in Iowa, and Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home are all declared “undecided.”
No organization has declared its opposition to the bill at this time.
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