Lubbock Power and Light Closing Southwest Lubbock Branch Office

Lubbock Power and Light will close a service branch office at the end of business today.

LP&L announced on their Facebook page around 4 o’clock today the closing of their Southwest Lubbock branch at 82^nd and Slide in the Lowe’s Market. LP&L says the branch is being closed due to circumstances beyond their control.

From the LP&L Facebook post:

(Lubbock, TX) – Lubbock Power and Light has announced the closure of their Southwest Branch Office at 5201 82nd Street. Due to circumstances out of the utility’s control, the Southwest Branch office will be permanently closed today at 5pm.

“In January of this year, Lowe’s Supermarket approached LP&L to terminate the property sublease agreement that was entered into in April 2005,” said Chris Sims, Lubbock Power and Light’s Public Information Officer. “As a result, LP&L had no choice but to terminate our sublease.”

“After conducting a thorough business case review, LP&L has decided not to pursue another location since transactions at Southwest Branch have declined 43.1 percent from 2005 to 2013. Just since 2010, walk-in traffic at the Southwest Branch has declined 30 percent.”

Prior to 2007, Lubbock Power and Light’s Downtown Business Office cashiers and mail room processed 91% of all payments with 9% of the customer’s utilizing automatic bank draft.

In October of 2007, LP&L began processing debit/credit card payments and electronic checks via the internet followed by accepting payments by phone in July of 2008. In October 2009, over 30 Western Union Pay Centers around Lubbock also began accepting payments.

With the ability to pay twenty four hours a day seven days a week on the internet or by phone, there has been a consistent decline in payments received at both Lubbock Power and Light business office locations.

“Even with the steady decline of bill payments through the Southwest Branch Office, LP&L realizes there are still those customers who regularly utilize the 82nd Street location,” Sims said.

“We strongly encourage any customer having an issue with their bill to contact LP&L and we will more than happy to assist in any and every way possible.”