Long Beach will start shutting off gas for customers who don’t pay

Residents who are significantly behind on their gas bills could have the service shut off as the city resumes collection efforts on overdue utility bills after a pause during the pandemic.

Before the pandemic in 2020, the city would shut off service for accounts that were more than $50 in arrears but will now only target accounts that are more than $800 behind.

The renewed enforcement efforts are slated to begin this week.

Residential customers of Long Beach Gas owe nearly $6 million in overdue payments that are more than 120 days late, the utilities department said in a recent memo .

Across all utilities — including gas, water, refuse and sewer — residents and businesses owe the city nearly $13.6 million, which amounts to roughly 4% of the $368.9 million these utilities collectively take in each year.

In addition to shutting off service, the city will resume other formal collection efforts, including legal action, for those who don’t pay.

City officials will review accounts that are more than 120 days late “to determine the likelihood of collectability of delinquent debt.” Any debt that is more than two years old will likely be written off, the memo said.

The announcement is the latest in the city’s effort to ease back to normal business after many programs were paused or altered during COVID-19, primarily to help residents who were struggling financially.

A year ago, the city resumed water shutoffs for residential accounts that were more than 60 days in arrears, and in March resumed shutoffs for commercial gas and water accounts that were more than 60 days late.

In March 2025, the city expects to start assessing late fees again to customers who don’t pay utilities on time.

Kevin Riper, director of financial management, said in the memo that a survey in August 2023 showed that 27 of 30 other public agencies had resumed normal collections efforts on late bills.

In Long Beach, these efforts have been slowed due to other priorities, including replacing the customer utilities web portal and the implementation of a new state-mandated system of collecting organic waste.

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