Request By:
Beverly J. Soice, Paralegal
Louisville Water Company
Opinion
Opinion By: Daniel Cameron,ATTORNEY GENERAL;Charles A. English,Assistant Attorney General
Opinion of the Attorney General
Louisville Water Company ("Louisville Water") requests this Office's opinion whether Louisville Water would violate Governor Andrew Beshear's executive order suspending utility disconnections if it disconnects water service at a residence turned on without authorization. For the reasons that follow, this Office finds that Louisville Water would not violate Governor Beshear's executive order suspending utility disconnections if it disconnects a water meter because the Governor's order only applies to utility disconnections due to non-payment.
On May 8, 2020, Governor Beshear issued Executive Order 2020-323. Among other things, the order provides:
6. Suspension of utility disconnections . Pursuant to the authority vested in me by KRS Chapter 39A, disconnections due to non-payment by all entities who provide natural gas, water, wastewater, or electric utility service within the Commonwealth, including, but not limited to entities created under KRS chapters 96 and 279, are prohibited for the duration of the State of Emergency under Executive Order 2020-215. 1
(emphasis added.) Under the plain language of the order, the suspension of utility disconnections only applies to disconnections due to non-payment.
Here, the Louisville Water account holder is the estate that owns the residence at which water was turned on without authorization. The estate's legal representative is requesting that Louisville Water disconnect water service at the residence after unidentified individuals accessed the residence's water meter and turned it on without authorization by the estate. Therefore, if Louisville Water were to disconnect water service at this residence, it would be doing so at the request of one of its customers, and not because of non-payment.
For these reasons, this Office finds that Louisville Water would not violate Governor Beshear's executive order suspending utility disconnections if it disconnects a water meter turned on without authorization because the Governor's order only applies to utility disconnections due to non-payment. 2
Footnotes
Footnotes