A provincial ban on disconnecting hydro resulted in a spike in the number of Enwin customers who fell behind on their bills.
The mandatory disconnect moratorium ended at the end of April.
Enwin CEO Helga Reidel says as of May 31st, the utility had more than 6,300 customers in arrears owing a total of $1.6-million.
As of the end of August, it dropped to 4,400 customers owing $1.1-million.
Reidel says the jump in May was expected.
"The peak in May shows that when the mandatory moratorium on disconnections happened, people did, through no fault of their own if they were in difficult situations, they did allow their accounts to go into arrears," she says.
"One of the downsides of a mandatory moratorium on disconnection is that customers will tend to turn their minds on paying other bills rather than their hydro bill and unfortunately the arrears build up and they make themselves less eligible for our assistance program."
Reidel says the Ontario Energy Board is asking for the numbers from utility companies, possibly to look at what approach to take this winter.
The Ontario Energy Board board says any account that is 30 or more days past the 16-day minimum payment period is considered to be in arrears