Unpaid bills are causing more utility shut-offs

Agencies that provide financial assistance for energy costs report long waiting lists and significant jumps in first-time applicants. With the prospect of much more serious trouble this winter, when bills traditionally are higher, Congress is exploring a significant increase in federal energy assistance as part of a second economic stimulus plan scheduled for consideration next month.

Consumers are being hit by an economic double whammy of high gasoline prices and rising utility bills, which are up considerably in most places because of the much higher cost of fuel used to generate electricity or heat residences.

"We are certainly seeing the signs of the economic downturn in people falling behind in their payments and more of them getting to the point where they're getting their service shut off," said George Lewis of PPL Electric Utilities, which serves customers in central and eastern Pennsylvania.

The increasing number of shut-offs also comes as the nation has struggled with job losses -- the national unemployment rate rose in July to 5.7%, its highest level in more than four years. There's also the housing crisis, with almost 1.4 million foreclosure filings, including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, in the first six months of this year.

In Michigan, which had the nation's highest unemployment rate in June -- 8.5% -- Detroit-based DTE Energy reported a 56% increase in utility shut-offs for nonpayment of bills for the first five months of this year compared with the same period a year ago.

Southern California Edison Co. reported that service was shut off to about 165,000 of its 4.8 million customer accounts from January through May this year, a 14% increase from the same period in 2007.

In Orange County, "people are coming to our office in record numbers with very high utility bills," said Kathy Kifaya, director of energy and environmental services for the Community Action Partnership of Orange County, which provides financial aid for energy costs to low-income families.