SAN ANTONIO — When Aly Miranda moved into her new apartment with her girlfriend it was everything she ever imagined. It had lots of room, two bedrooms, two dogs and lots of plants.  She noticed recently that her light bill has been a lot of higher than usual. 

What You Need To Know

  • CPS Energy suspended disconnections in spring of last year, but they’ll soon return for residential customers this October

  • CPS says disconnections are returning because four out of five residents are caught up on their CPS bills

  • The energy company says over 70,000 accounts are eligible for disconnections and the average residential account has an outstanding balance of $600

“‘You owe $190-something, you owe $200,’ I think my most recent one. Actually, I just got a notice saying I owe $127 right now cause I keep paying $100 to $150 and not the full amount.” 

CPS Energy suspended disconnections in spring of last year, but they’ll soon return for residential customers this October and since Miranda is at least paying most of it, she should be fine, but she says it’s still frustrating.

“The heat does start to come from this natural light too so it’s like damn if we do, damn if we don’t,” Miranda said. “I’m not going to suffer with no AC, with no ceiling fans. I’m not going to make the dogs suffer.”

DeAnna Hardwick is the vice president of customer service for CPS Energy and she says disconnections are returning because four out of five residents are caught up on their CPS bills. 

“Residential customers who haven’t paid us in a year, who are delinquent on any type of assistance programs, or installment plans and haven’t responded to our outreach to them,” Hardwick said about residents in jeopardy of getting their services cut off. 

According to CPS, over 70,000 accounts are eligible for disconnections and the average residential account has an outstanding balance of $600. One of the options CPS suggested was an installment plan, something that Miranda is looking into. 

“I haven’t done the payment plan yet, I keep putting that off just because like how much better is that, if it’s going to be so much. It’s like never ending,” Miranda said.