I work for a public utility.   I was in a meeting today where the head of Credit and Collection stated that arrears (people not paying) was over $300,000,000.    A staggering amount.   What was more amazing to me was that according to his statistics- 60% of these people could afford to pay their bill.   Only 40% of those were low income who could not pay their bill.

I have sympathy for low income people and work with a lot of them to get them to programs like The Heat and Warmth Fund, Family Independence Agency, Home Heating Credit, and other agencies.    A lot of them do not take advantage of what is out there and feel that Gas and Electricity is an entitlement and they should not be required to pay for it. They are incorrect.

For the people who can afford to pay and don't I have no sympathy.   I pay my bills.   They should pay theirs.   Shutting people off is only the last resort.   We make no money if the meter is shut off and it creates bad publicity.    A story ran in our papers about us shutting off a family that owed us $2,000.    They failed to mention that the family had not paid anything or made any arrangements for 2 whole years, and they had been caught and convicted of stealing energy the year before that.

The results of this are that everyone else (you and I) have to pay higher rates to make up for the people who are not paying their share.