Stupid new law in Illinois!

[wincrasher]

Hey, the good people at the power company are just trying to make a living like everybody else!

You should be happily whistling when that power bill comes, write out and send in your check. Oh happy day!

In fact, why don't you send in a gift along with your regular bill? Maybe a few hundred extra bucks?

Keep those lights burning! We need the money.

[xpirtdesign]

thats the electric company they have so much power the electric company can get whatever they want but yeah that sucks

[cptacek]

So if someone doesn't pay their bill, others "get" to pay it for them? Does their electricity get cut off? How long can they be delinquent before power does get shut off?

[disneysteve]

So if someone doesn't pay their bill, others "get" to pay it for them? Does their electricity get cut off? How long can they be delinquent before power does get shut off?

I've often wondered about this. As much as I consider electricity a necessity, most of us could live without it at least short-term. I say if folks are behind on their bill, turn off service. Make it known that service will be terminated if payment is more than 15 days late (or 30 days or whatever). I have no doubt that there are many people out there who don't pay their bill but still have plenty of money for beer, cigarettes and other luxuries. Perhaps they would re-order their priorities when the lights went out.

[cptacek]

If it was up to me, I'd give them a month. If they didn't pay the bill due May 5th, for instance, I would send them a late notice two weeks later, and if they didn't pay the entire bill by June 5th, I would turn off the service.

[PrincessPerky]

If the electric help was going to the elderly with no family to house them in AC (or no access to the state run AC fueled library/court buildings/public buildings) I honestly wouldn't mind.

I pay plenty to keep my church much cooler than I would ever waste AC at home on, I support ministry's that help with food, bills, and clothing.

BUT I happen to know folk who do not pay the electric in summer or heat in winter..because it wont get shut off. Not because there were elderly nor very young, nor ill in the home, but because it is state law. You can go months delinquent without losing electricity..and those folk along with millions more who think like them run the AC the playstations the cable along with every other electric waster, lights on when no one in the room, all electronics plugged in full blast while they are outside yacking on the cell phone about how horrible it is the Electric company wants to turn off the power.

Really? If you provided a service wouldn't you want to be paid for it?

Sure things happen to good people, and for those folk I would love to help (and do), but for someone willing to spend $4 on 4 cans of pop from a vending machine over a dinner of free nuked food from food stamps...with a house cold enough mid summer to require a sweater.....no I have no desire to help in any way shape or form.

Sure there always have been indifferent folk, and always will be, want to ensure more of them? keep helping the fake poor, make more folk dependent on the dole, and watch as charitable donations sinks to new lows.

On the other hand if you want to see a change, start being it. Go donate time, money and resources to help folk in need, feel free to ask for voluntary contributions of others, but keep your guns in your pocket not aimed at me. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar..so far as I can tell you catch none with guns. (and a law is nothing more than the promise of the govt guns to force an action)

As to GA and TX troubles, free market does not mean automatically low, just lower than regulated over the long term. a quick google search turns up a fellow who compared his southeastern gas bill to the same service in Atlanta, says it would be cheaper in Atlanta, in spite of the fact that high demand plus low supply is making the gas higher in Atlanta. It was at the time of his writing higher everywhere.

Use the govt to protect folk from things they often cannot themselves (bill slamming, or stealing customers without permission) But let there be multiple services for us to choose from, so we can decide if we want to pay more for green electricity or whatever.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

The company (Ameren) in the original post does indeed cut off non-payers in my state. For the disabled and elderly there are certain conditions which must be met before a cut off. Between November 1 and March 30, the National Weather Service must not be predicting any temperatures below 32 deg F within 24 hours. They must attempt to contact the customer when the bill is due, when it is past due, by phone, by letter, by hang tag on the door. They must try even on the day they shut off service to make one final attempt. They must provide info on payment schedules to get caught up over 12 to 18 months on the arrears. They must be willing to accept a 10-20% (depending on circumstances) down payment on the arrears as part of the repayment schedule and to resore or keep the power on if they get that down payment. They must give the customer contact information for their "Dollar Help" program (a program run by the United Way agencies, but using donations from Ameren customers, and from Ameren itself) They must provide information for energy assistance through LIHEAP, which is federally funded and locally administered. They must provide information for local charities which do or might provide help with utility bills. They have to give all this information before they turn off power.....All these regulation of the state's Public Service Commission which regulates public utilities.

For people who are not elderly or disabled, there seems to be far less patience or coaxing for payment. As far as I know they can cut off service within days of a missed payment. But they don't. My impression is that they still try to phone, to write, and to leave hang tags before a cut-off and that it may take two months. Not exactly sure.

In addition, Ameren has in recent years gone beyond the PSC regs and made it publicly known that they will not cut off electricity during heat spells of a certain temp (I don't know what temp.)

[mom-from-missouri]

I've often wondered about this. As much as I consider electricity a necessity, most of us could live without it at least short-term. I say if folks are behind on their bill, turn off service. Make it known that service will be terminated if payment is more than 15 days late (or 30 days or whatever). I have no doubt that there are many people out there who don't pay their bill but still have plenty of money for beer, cigarettes and other luxuries. Perhaps they would re-order their priorities when the lights went out.

Steve, you are sooooo right. I see this over and over while working at the crisis center. No money for babys diapers, but mom has her cigs and dad reeks of booze. And then they stand there and tell us about their new game for the Wii.........

I have mixed feelings on this one. I don't think the paying should pay for the non paying, but then again I don't think 92 year old Mable who doesn't blow her money should be cut off for not being able to pay her bill.

Our company lets you "round up" your bill to the next dollar. That then goes into a fund to help those who need it. Those that need it have to fill out a form and the electric company actually verifies the info and does a home visit. The crisis center gets referrals often as while the electric co is doing the home visit if they see there is a true need, they give them our card and we can help with food,, clothes or baby items.

Our electric company also has a volunteer group who raise funds through out the year to help insulate homes and make repairs on ac, furnaces and such. I belong to that group and I can say the ones we help truely need it.

[cptacek]

mom-from-missouri, you sure walk the walk and not just talk the talk! Thank you for volunteering!

[rob62521]

Hey, the good people at the power company are just trying to make a living like everybody else!

You should be happily whistling when that power bill comes, write out and send in your check. Oh happy day!

In fact, why don't you send in a gift along with your regular bill? Maybe a few hundred extra bucks?

Keep those lights burning! We need the money.

Thank you for the "enlightment". I'm going for my checkbook right now!

[Snodog]

I am not necessarily defending this law or attacking it but owning a business. . .in a way, you always do charge your good customers more to offset the deadbeats.

My collection rate is around 95%. I just know 5% is a loss per year. Yeah, I can go after the 5%. . .all the way from "Please pay your bill" letters. . .to a collection agency. . .or even put a lien or judgment on them. But there are diminsihing returns on each step you take. Therefore, I have to figure to stay in business that I spread the 5% loss around to keep up.

I actually figured all businesses do this and am surprised the utilities didn't do it before in IL.

I'm with you. I thought all businesses did this.

[Inkstain82]

For those wondering what it takes to get a utility shut off, here's my experience:

Multiple months of non-payment and either ignoring their attempts to come up with a payment plan that can work with you or coming up with a plan and then falling behind on it too. That's usually the point they'll put in a shutoff date.

It takes a lot more than just missing a month's payment.