6.1d ERMUSR 07-13-2021______________________________________________________________________________
Page 1 of 1
UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:
ERMU Commission
FROM:
Jennie Nelson – Customer Service Manager
MEETING DATE:
July 13, 2021
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
6.1d
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
• The customer service department has been working through challenges with the
garbage haulers. Randy’s Sanitation was purchased by Republic Services in 2020 and
they are slowly merging their processes. The City’s Environmental Coordinator and I
have a meeting with the haulers on July 14 to discuss solutions to alleviate customer
confusion. Additionally, the haulers have been very understaffed which has created
service issues for us to work through. The customer service department does a
wonderful job working through difficult conversations with customers and each hauler.
• Rebates applications continue to be heavy, especially WiFi thermostat and A/C Tune-
Ups. Our department is working through some cross training on rebate processing to
ensure multiple people know how to complete that process.
• Multiple changes were made to the Cold Weather Rule during this last legislative
session. I will be working with our credit & collections specialist to determine any
processes and/or programming changes that need to be done. Additionally, I have a
meeting to discuss these changes with two Minnesota utilities on the July 13.
• The general manager and I met to discuss penalties. It is strongly encouraged to not
penalize any charges that were accrued between March 2020 – June 2021. When we
resume penalizing, our software is already programmed to only penalize current
charges, nothing previous. Given that we did not budget for any penalties in 2021, we
propose resuming penalties in January 2022. We would send two notices to customers
notifying them of this change.
• New housing developments are becoming more frequent, generating a lot of phone,
email, and account activity. Between the specialists and customer service
representatives, they do a great job keeping the communication smooth between the
office, field, and contractors.
116