MONTPELIER — Vermont utility regulators have reinstated a pandemic-inspired moratorium on the disconnection of electricity, natural gas and landline phone services because customers have not paid their bills.
In an order dated Tuesday, the Public Utilities Commission said the moratorium will last through March 31.
On Wednesday, Gov. Phil Scott thanked the Public Service Department for its efforts to get the moratorium reinstated.
“As we head into winter while still facing a global pandemic and its economic impacts, we all need to look out for our neighbors and ensure we protect the most vulnerable,” Scott said in a statement.
The commission first prohibited disconnections in March of this year, but that moratorium was lifted on Oct. 15.
Since the original moratorium was lifted, utilities were able to work with their customers so they could seek funds through a program designed to help pay the overdue bills of people in danger of having service cut off. But that program ended Dec. 15.
The coronavirus worsening pandemic and winter conditions prompted the commission to reconsider the moratorium.
“Vermonters need to be able to keep the lights on, their homes warm, and their phone lines open as they survive the winter months of the pandemic,” said commission chair Anthony Roisman.
A legal fight continues over the collection of income taxes from New Hampshire residents who are employed by Massachusetts companies but have been working from home during the pandemic.
New Hampshire asked the U.S. Supreme Court in October to block Massachusetts from collecting such taxes from roughly 80,000 people. On Wednesday, New Hampshire filed a brief responding to an earlier filing in which Massachusetts argued the court should not hear the case.
“Massachusetts’ current position is a far cry from our country’s rallying call of ‘no taxation without representation,’ — which they seem to have forgotten originated in their state,” said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu. “We remain confident that the Supreme Court of the United States will take up this case of national importance and that the State of New Hampshire will prevail.”
Under a temporary rule enacted by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, residents of other states who were working in Massachusetts before the pandemic remain subject to Massachusetts’ 5.05% income tax while they work from home.
While the regulation will expire Dec. 31 or 90 days after the coronavirus state of emergency in Massachusetts is lifted, New Hampshire officials argue it represents a permanent shift in underlying policy and amounts to an “aggressive attempt to impose Massachusetts income tax” beyond its borders.