Chelan PUD Customer Bills Delayed After Cyber Breach At Vendor

Customer statements from Chelan PUD are being delayed after the utility's billing vendor crashed from a cyber-attack. 

The national company has not been able to send out billing statements since last Thursday, and it's not known when it'll be back up and running.  

Chelan PUD spokesperson Rachel Hansen says the delay means customer bills will be bigger once they start to be generated again. 

"The balance on the customer bills when we start sending those bills again might look a little different because the usage is going to be longer than the normal 30-day period," said Hansen. 

She says they're trying to find a short-term solution to the billing delay. 

"We're working on a temporary workaround that would allow us to start sending billing statements again as soon as possible. We're still checking our options." 

Hansen said the information the PUD uploads to the vendor includes customer names, mailing addresses, services taken, the amount owed, due date, and Chelan PUD account number.
The PUD is investigating whether any of that information was compromised. The vendor does not have access to payment method information or other sensitive, personally identifiable information.

Chelan PUD customers can still see their current balance, and pay existing bills as normal, whether it's online, by mail, or at a PUD payment kiosk and drop box, which are in Leavenworth, Chelan, or Wenatchee. 

Customers cannot access previous billing statements, regardless of when they were sent. 

The PUD contracts with the vendor to send about 2,000 billing statements a day, electronically and in the mail. 

Thus, the setback is affecting another 2,000 customers every additional day the system is down. Chelan PUD has a total of 50,000 customers. 

“We apologize for the inconvenience,” said Customer Utilities Manager Lindsey Mohns. “Once this is resolved and billing resumes, we will adjust any due dates to correspond with the new billing date. Our priority is to support customers and avoid any unintentional impacts.” 

Hansen said the PUD will work with any customer who loses track of their billing and has trouble paying the larger charge once it is sent to them. 

All customers are asked to call Chelan PUD Customer Relations with any questions at (509) 661-8002. 

The PUD is not identifying the vendor that was the victim of the cyber-attack. 

A cyberattack has also disrupted the operations of Change Healthcare, a company that processes insurance claims and pharmacy requests for more than 340,000 physicians and 60,000 pharmacies nationwide. 

Most pharmacies in the Wenatchee area are now unable to access insurance coverage on prescriptions for a percentage of their customers because of the hack.