The Wisconsin utility disconnect moratorium, which prevents your utility service company from disconnecting electric and gas accounts, will come to a close on April 15, 2022. This means utility companies can resume shut-off scheduling for those with outstanding bills.
If your utility bills are past due, they can be included in your bankruptcy filing, and the debt can be discharged. This is important because while Miller & Miller does handle your creditor calls prior to filing, the law is clear that unless you have actually filed a bankruptcy, creditors (including utility companies) are still free to collect on their debts. As a result, Miller & Miller cannot prevent a utility company from shutting off services to people with past due utility bills UNLESS that person’s case has been filed, and we can present them with a valid case number to verify the filing.
This means if you have been waiting to file, or are on a payment plan to file your case with us, you may want to file sooner rather than later. I encourage you to contact our office as soon as possible to see if we can get your case filed before the moratorium ends. When you call our office, we will be able to check on the status of your payment plan and see when you will be eligible to file with our office. If you need to file sooner, we can work with you to come up with a solution.
Once you’re ready, in order to file your case, we will need your credit counseling certificate, and the documentation that was discussed at your consultation. After you have submitted your documents to our office, we can review your file and make sure that everything is in order. If it is, we can schedule your bankruptcy filing right away. However, this entire process can take up to 30 days to complete.
We are here to help and don’t want any of our clients unpleasantly surprised by their utility company, or any other creditor for that matter!
