People having trouble paying their utility bills

[jeffrey]

Utilities are becoming more aggressive about collecting money from delinquent customers, leading to a surge in service shutdowns just as economic woes are pushing up the number of households falling behind on bills.

The utilities say they are under pressure to clean out accounts that are weighing down their books at a time when their stocks are being hammered and earnings growth has slowed.

Meanwhile, the increasing number of homes left without power -- which could rise as economic pain deepens -- is beginning to worry some consumer advocates and regulators...

More Utility Bills Go Unpaid - WSJ.com

[dossin1]

Thanks for the article, imo this will only get worse. I now make my kids watch tv in the dark, lights on only if someone is reading. They complain that it makes the house look "spooky", but I'm too afraid to risk a shutoff, especially in the winter. In my home town, if the utility company shuts you off, they want a $700 deposit plus any past due balance before they will reconnect your gas or lights. This happened to an elderly relative, and the company wanted almost $1300 to turn her gas back on. Because she was over 80 and sick, a senior advocate talked the utility into accepting $500.

We also uplug appliances like crazy, especially at night.

[simpleyme]

like everything else I am sure those of us that manage to pay our bills(mostly by budgeting and limiting our use) we will get to pay some sort of additional fee to help those that do not pay


I am sure some people are in dire need and I feel for those but...

so this guy who does not have employment (no jobs worthy of him around here, he told me so ) comes into my place of work a couple days ago and he wants to plug his 10 year old sons cell phone in on our power, as his power has just been shut off do to non payment and he had forgot to recharge the phone

I just could not muster any sympathy for his situation and said no
(maybe instead of buying a small child a phone pay your utilities Einstein)