Power Bills Aren't High Enough?

[daleduke17]

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local...cc4c002e0.html

The local power company wants the people that HAVE paid their bills to pick up the tab for those who haven't. Uh, no. If I currently paid into that company, I would refuse that line on my bill and explain it to them each month. Why should I, a paying customer, have to pick up the tab for people who don't pay? Take the ones who can't pay to court. Or, like a commenter said, take some of the performance bonuses away from head honchos to pay for it.

Kind of funny how a company can post losses, yet the bosses get performance bonuses. Hey, dumbassses in charge, you lost the company money, your performance sucks.

[Fashion Lad!]

Everyone should be responsible for their own. If anything, it should be posted as an option. I'm sure some people would be more than happy to donate to those who cannot pay. No one should be forced to do anything like that.

[Gravekeeper]

Haha, what? I can't even wrap head around the sort of balls it would take to propose that.

"Ameren can ask its paying customers to cover the people who didn't pay because of a new law approved this year. Before, the utilities could only collect a portion of the unpaid bills"

What law is this?

[AdminAssistant]

Well, I know that in my state, the power and gas companies can't disconnect people for non-payment when the temperature gets below a certain point. That's still not a good way to pay for that policy.

[daleduke17]

Well, I know that in my state, the power and gas companies can't disconnect people for non-payment when the temperature gets below a certain point. That's still not a good way to pay for that policy.

In Illinois if it is below a certain temp or above a certain temp, electric can't be shut off.

There's no personal accountability anymore. Nanny state bullshit.

[DrFaroohk]

Same as here in Maine, but it goes by time of year. Something like November - April. Also can't evict anyone during that time, at least if they have kids.

[tropicsgoddess]

FPL has been increasing their rates more than once in Florida and now this vote was in where there's this franchise fee that's tacked on the bills and passed on to the consumers. Fuckers.

[telecom_goddess]

Just so you know...on everyone's telephone bill there is usually what's called a TAP charge, that stands for Telephone Assistance Plan. Everyone pays a little bit into it and it helps people who can't pay their phone bills. I think this is the same thing here.

However I feel the government should pull the money being spent on the huge salaries of politicians and god only knows what kind of expenses for the white house, and military budgets and the like and put that into the energy help budget instead.

[tabbyblack13]

There is an option with APS in Arizona that you can willing donate money to help others that don't have the money. I can understand if you are willing to donate and do but I don't think people should be forced to pay bills they don't have.

[gremcint]

Hypothetical:

I can't pay, so others pay the power company on my behalf willing or not. Do I still owe the money? Do I have to pay a certain amount to stay connected?

If I pay later do the other customers get their money back? or does the power company collect on my bill twice?

[Aethian]

On my power bill I can have them round up to the next dollar to help pay for people who can't affrod their bills. I do it and at the end of the year get a little statement as to how much I donated and it gets put onto my taxes.

[blas87]

In Wisconsin, they cannot shut off power in....November - April (or is it October, or December?)......which I guess makes sense in a small way. No goodnicks can float through the winter not paying their electric bill, but come April whateverth day, they WILL owe for that entire winter, so it's not like they can roast it up at 85 degrees all winter and not owe a thing when April comes around.

In a way, if the no goodnicks were on their way to eviction anyway, if I were the potential new tenant or house owner, I wouldn't want to have to deal with busted pipes and other damage caused by the power being turned off all winter (especially considering in Wisconsin, we have been setting record lows for quite some time and the cold is NO joke here)...

It doesn't seem right to let peole get away with not paying their bills but yet at the same time, it also doesn't make sense to punish someone else who may move in or even that landlord having to pay for that all to get fixed when the damage is done over the winter...

[Tanasi]

I wonder how long before the whiners start with the power, water, cable, natural gas, gasoline/diesel is a right?

[protege]

I wonder how long before the whiners start with the power, water, cable, natural gas, gasoline/diesel is a right?

It's already started. People have long bitched when their cable goes out. Never mind that their power is out as well...they bitch about the cable first. Of course if they had Adelphia, I could see why--where I live, if we got even one drop of rain, cable service in the entire county went out

Getting back on topic here, our local utility companies have the option of either rounding up to the next dollar, or paying a few dollars over to help out those who can't pay. That's the way it should be--nobody likes getting forced into bailing someone else out.

[blas87]

Cable is such a necessity that even people on welfare can have it!

Oh, and I don't mean basic cable or basic extended like what my landlord provides for me, or what normally costs people around here about $50 a month......I'm talking about digital cable, several hundred channels and the movie channels (HBO/MAX, SHO)....my former roommate's gf was on all kinds of assistance, and she somehow got the same cable we struggled to afford.