Jackson to observe cold weather moratorium

The City of Jackson has approximately 6,200 commercial and residential electricity customers and will follow the dictates of Missouri’s Cold Weather Rule, even though the county seat community technically does not have to do so.

The moratorium, established by the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) in 1977, forbids the cutoff of heat to customers under certain conditions during the winter months of November through March but municipally-owned systems, such as Jackson’s, are not under PSC jurisdiction.

The rule was established, according to the PSC website, to allow customers in arrears on their electricity bills the chance to arrange more lenient payment terms to avoid possible disconnection during the coldest period of the year.

“We will abide by the rule,” said Dwain Hahs, Jackson’s mayor since 2015, aware the PSC’s moratorium applies when the temperature is predicted to dip below 32 degrees over a 24-hour period.

Jackson is one of 85 municipalities in the Show Me State to directly provide electricity to its citizens and is the only one in Cape Girardeau County, according to the PSC’s online directory.

“(Disconnection) doesn’t happen a lot anyway,” Hahs added.

In Southeast Missouri, Sikeston, Kennett, Poplar Bluff and Malden also provide direct municipal electricity services.