Some agencies and companies are offering support during the pandemic. Here are a few that are making changes to help customers.
Charter offers students free internet
Charter Communications is offering free Spectrum internet for families with students in order to help them keep learning during school closures. The company issued the statement: “Charter will offer free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription and at any service level up to 100 Mbps. To enroll, call 1-844-488-8395. Installation fees will be waived for new student households.”
Duke Energy, Lumbee River EMC stop cutoffs
The energy companies servicing Hoke customers announced they won’t cut off customers’ power for non-payment at this time.
“Duke Energy will not disconnect any customer’s service for non-payment, in order to give customers experiencing financial hardship extra time to make payments. The company will continue to read meters and send bills. Customers should pay what they can to avoid building up a large balance that will be harder to pay off later,” the company announced in a statement.
Lumbee River EMC customers will also not face disconnection due to non-payment at this time.
“Effective immediately, we will suspend the disconnection of electric services for nonpayment, both traditional and FlexPay. For those who were disconnected today prior to this decision, you may contact our office for a courtesy reconnection,” the cooperative announced in a statement. “Although non-pay disconnects are suspended, I encourage everyone to continue to make payments so that when this crisis is over, you will not face a larger than life accumulated electric bill.”
Hoke County water and sewer customers will also not face disconnection for non-payment in the next 30 days, the commissioners decided Monday.
Scholastic helps students learn at home
The Scholastic company curated a free digital learning hub designed to support virtual learning plans: Scholastic Learn At Home allows open access to daily learning journeys divided into four grade spans—Pre-K–K, Grades 1–2, Grades 3–5, and Grades 6–9+, covering ELA, STEM, Science, Social Studies, and Social-Emotional Learning.
To learn more and to access Scholastic Learn At Home, visit http://www.scholastic.com/learnathome