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

0 after the due date shown on the bill; ACSA says bills are due when rendered. An outstanding amount at the next billing date is charged the published delinquent penalty and late-payment charge.

Late charges

ACSA’s current start/stop page states that any outstanding amount at the next billing date is charged a 10% penalty plus a late-payment fee of 1.5% per month. The rules classify an unpaid bill as past due after the due date, and a $35 cash-only returned-payment fee applies to failed checks or electronic transfers.

Shut-off timeline

The bill is due when rendered; an unpaid bill is delinquent and ACSA mails a notice requesting payment. That notice states the date after which the account is subject to disconnection. The public rules do not set one universal number of calendar days because the notice date controls; service is restored only after arrearages and applicable charges are paid.

Reconnection

A dedicated this detail was not publicly posted. For a current exact regular-versus-after-hours dollar amount. The rules state that a delinquent cut-off/on fee and reconnection fee apply and that all arrearages and charges must be paid before restoration, but the reviewed public 2026 pages do not expose the Appendix B dollar line for this fee.

Notice and timing

How delinquency is handled

Grace period after the due date

0 after the due date shown on the bill; ACSA says bills are due when rendered. An outstanding amount at the next billing date is charged the published delinquent penalty and late-payment charge.

Late-fee calculation

Disconnection timeline

Statutory warning protocol

What notice should you expect?

ACSA’s rules require a delinquent-payment notice by mail showing a date after which disconnection may occur. The Authority may choose to provide further notice, and if it does, the further notice controls the payment date and reconnection charge. No exact automated call, text message, colored paper, or door-hanger protocol is published.

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 Albemarle County Service Authority (ACSA) 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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