AUSTIN (KXAN) — AARP Texas and the Texas Consumer Association sent an emergency petition to the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) this week calling for the PUCT  to put a pause on cutting people’s power  because of record temperatures.

But the PUCT Chief Press Officer Ellie Breed said a moratorium is already in place.

“The PUCT has rules in place to ensure reliable and continuous electric service during extreme heat and cold. These rules prohibit electric providers from disconnecting service to any customer during extreme weather events,” Breed said.

She said that current rules prohibit retail electric providers in ERCOT from disconnecting power because of non-payment during extreme weather events. Also, electric transmission and distribution utilities must notify PUCT when such an emergency has been issued in their area.

PUCT’s rules define these emergencies as whenever:

• the previous day’s highest temperature did not exceed 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature is predicted to remain at or below that level for the next 24 hours anywhere in the county, according to the nearest National Weather Service (NWS) reports; or
• the NWS issues a heat advisory for a county, or when such advisory has been issued on any one of the preceding two calendar days in a county.

“Our rules also require that [providers] offer deferred payment plans upon request for bills that become due during emergency weather conditions,” Breed said. “If someone is experiencing financial challenges related to higher-than normal energy bills, they should contact their provider and call 211 for information on assistance or resources available to them in their area.”

Austin Energy spokesperson Matt Mitchell said not only do they provide resources to people struggling to pay their bills — and that they spend months working to connect with people before cutting their power — but they don’t disconnect someone during extreme heat or cold.

“Every time we have extreme heat or extreme cold, those disconnects do not take place,” Mitchell said.

Even so, the CEO of Family Eldercare said they’ve seen a growing number of people coming to request fans because they fear they can’t pay their bills.

“For some people, sometimes they have to choose between paying electricity or putting food on their table so a fan that only costs 25 cents a day to keep running sometimes is their only option to mitigate this heat,” said Dr. Aaron Alarcon, the CEO of Family Eldercare.

The group’s warehouse was filled with fans at the start of the summer. And even after KXAN’s fan drive just a week ago — where roughly 740 fans were donated — less than 100 fans remain.

“It’s gonna get worse. Which means that more and more people are gonna get sick, more people are going to rely on our help to mitigate this terrible heat,” Alarcon said.

You can donate to Family Eldercare’s summer fan drive here.