§ 26-220. Dispute procedures.

(a)

Whenever the customer advises the utility's designated office prior to the disconnection of service that all or part of any billing as rendered is in dispute, or that any matter related to the disconnection is in dispute, the company shall investigate the dispute promptly and completely, advise the customer of the results of the investigation, attempt to resolve the dispute, and provide the opportunity for the customer to enter in to a deferred payment agreement when applicable in order to settle the dispute.

(b)

After the customer has pursued the available remedies with the utility, he may request that the public service commission's staff informally review the disputed issue and recommend terms of settlement.

(c)

Any party to the dispute after informal review may make a written request for a formal review by the commission. If the commission decides to conduct a formal hearing on the dispute, the customer must pay 50 percent of the bill in dispute or post a bond for that amount on or before the hearing date. Failure to pay the amount or post the bond will constitute a waiver of the right to a hearing. Service shall not be disconnected because of any disputed matter while the disputed matter is being pursued under the disputes procedure. In no way does this relieve the customer form the obligation of paying charges which are not disputed.

(d)

The form of disconnection notice to be used is as follows:

DISCONNECTION NOTICE

Dear Customer:

The bill enclosed with this notice includes your current charge for utility service and your previous unpaid balance.

You have eight days to pay the utility service arrears or your service is subject to disconnection.

If you fail to pay the service arrears, or fail to contact us within the eight days allowed to make reasonable time payment arrangements, we will proceed with disconnection action.

To avoid the inconvenience of service interruption and an additional charge of (amount) reconnection, we urge you to pay the full arrears IMMEDIATELY AT ONE OF OUR OFFICES.

If you have entered into a Deferred Payment Agreement with us and have failed to make the time payment you agreed to, your service will be subject to disconnection unless you pay the amount due within eight days.

If you have a reason for delaying the payment, call us and explain the situation.

PLEASE CALL THIS TELEPHONE NUMBER, (appropriate telephone number), IMMEDIATELY IF:

1.

You have a question about your utility service arrears.

2.

You are unable to pay the full amount of the bill and are willing to enter into a time payment agreement with us.

3.

There are any circumstances you think should be taken into consideration before service is discontinued.

4.

Any resident is seriously ill.

Illness Provision

If there is an existing medical emergency in your home and you furnish the Utility with a statement signed by either a licensed Wisconsin physician, or a public health official, we will delay disconnection of service up to 21 days. The statement must identify the medical emergency and specify the period of time during which disconnection will aggravate the existing emergency.

Deferred Payment Agreements

If, for some reason, you are unable to pay the full amount of the utility service arrears on your bill, you may contact the Utility to discuss arrangements to pay the arrears over an extended period of time.

This time payment agreement will require:

1.

Payment of a reasonable amount at the time the agreement is made.

2.

Payment of the remainder of the outstanding balance in monthly installments over a reasonable length of time.

3.

Payment of all future utility service bills in full by the due date.

In any situation where you are unable to resolve billing disputes or disputes about the grounds for proposed disconnection through contacts with our utility, you may make an appeal to the Wisconsin Public Service commission, Madison, Wisconsin.

(UTILITY NAME)

(e)

In the event the utility is not able to collect any bill for water service even though deposit and guarantee rules are on file, the bill may be put upon the tax roll as provided in Wis. Stats. § 66.0813.

(Code 1989, § 9-1-41(d))