From WHYY
By Jake Blumgart
The Philadelphia Water Department, Philadelphia Gas Works and PECO have announced moratoriums on service disconnections.
PGW and PECO will suspend shut-offs until at least May 1, 2020. Both utilities will waive new late payment charges during that period as well.
The Philadelphia Water Department has suspended shut-offs for the next 60 days.
PECO instructed customers who have a disconnect notice or late fees to call 1-800-494-4000.
Read the full article: Coronavirus prompts PECO and other utility providers to suspend shut-offs
From Technical.ly
By Paige Gross
To help low-income families stay connected to updates about the COVID-19 pandemic, Comcast is giving away two months of free internet services through its Internet Essentials program for eligible households that sign up starting Monday, March 16.
The broadcast company said it would also be increasing the speed of the program to 25 Mbps downloads, and 3 Mbps uploads for all new and existing Internet Essentials customers.
Those who apply starting Monday will move through the qualification process if they are eligible for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI and others. Applicants must not owe debt to Comcast that’s less than a year old and must not have been subscribed to Comcast internet in the past 90 days.
Over the next 60 days, Comcast has also opened up its Xfinity Wi-Fi free to for public use and paused its data plan, so everyone will have access to unlimited data. The company said it will also not disconnect any customers’ internet during this time or issue late fees.
Read the full article: Comcast is offering 2 months of free internet through its Internet Essentials program