Delinquency and service protection

Understand the shut-off process before it reaches your door

The safest time to ask about a past-due balance, payment arrangement, or hardship protection is before the final notice. This page translates the provider’s published rules into a practical checklist.

Customer protection notice

Review the delinquency rules before your service is interrupted

A past-due balance can trigger fees or a shut-off process. Contact the provider promptly if a notice is incorrect, a payment is pending, or a household needs assistance.

Grace period

10 days after the due date under the published district schedule; the net bill applies on or before the due date and the gross bill is 10% higher afterward.

Late charges

The gross amount, 10% higher than the net bill, applies after the due date. A $30 service charge applies to checks returned for insufficient funds or a closed account; the customer portal also extends that charge to returned e-checks, stop payments, frozen/closed accounts, or incorrect banking information.

Shut-off timeline

If the bill is not paid within 10 days after the due date, service is subject to disconnection without further notice. Restoration requires the total past-due bill plus a $25 reconnection charge; the published schedule does not provide an earlier reminder timeline.

Reconnection

$25 reconnection charge during regular service, plus an additional $30 when turn-on is made after regular working hours. Unauthorized turn-on can also trigger a $25 reconnection charge, a $25 trip fee, and a $10 lock-replacement fee where applicable.

Notice and timing

How delinquency is handled

Grace period after the due date

10 days after the due date under the published district schedule; the net bill applies on or before the due date and the gross bill is 10% higher afterward.

Late-fee calculation

Disconnection timeline

Statutory warning protocol

What notice should you expect?

The published rate schedule states that after 10 days past due service may be disconnected without further notice. The reviewed customer pages do not specify a separate mailed, phone, text, or door-hanger warning protocol.

If a notice seems wrong

Document the account balance, payment confirmation, notice date, and any household medical or accessibility concern. Then call the provider using the contact information on its official bill or profile before the stated deadline.

Restoring service

Reconnection costs and timing

Need a payment arrangement?

Ask before the shut-off date

Tell the customer-service representative that you are responding to a delinquency notice and ask specifically about installment plans, hardship protection, charity referrals, and the amount required to stop the disconnection order.

Customer protection guide

What to do when a bill becomes urgent

A delinquency notice from First Utility District of Knox County should be treated as a time-sensitive account document. Read the exact due date, amount required, notice method, and contact instructions on the notice, then compare them with the provider details in this guide.

If you have already paid, gather the confirmation number and posting date. If you cannot pay the full amount, call before the stated shut-off date and ask about arrangements, hardship protections, agency referrals, and the minimum amount needed to pause action.

Keep the conversation specific: ask what will stop the order, when the payment must post, whether a reconnection fee applies, and whether the utility requires a separate request for medical, accessibility, or household-protection status.

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