As APCo cuts power, more seek bill help

For people seeking help with their electricity bills at Lynchburg Community Action Group, $300 is a small bill.

Many of them owe $1,000 or more on bills that accumulated over the bitterly cold winter. Christine Jordan, emergency assistance program manager, said the agency recently helped someone who owed Appalachian Power Co. $3,390.

Jordan said the number of people asking LynCAG for help with utility bills has nearly doubled during the past two months. It has increased at other local agencies, too, as APCo has started cutting off power to customers who had not made payment arrangements.

About 2,200 customers in Virginia had their service disconnected in the past month, APCo spokesman Todd Burns said.

“We had hoped that … individuals would try to set up a payment plan with the utility companies earlier in the year,” said Joan Phelps, United Way of Central Virginia vice president. “This was put out there as an option, but I’m just not sure that our consumers took advantage of that.”

The story behind the large bills began in December, when cold weather caused electrical heating systems to use much more electricity than usual. The increased use, combined with a 15 percent rate increase, caused many customers to receive bills for $300 or more in January.

APCo struck a deal with the General Assembly and suspended its rate hike until the State Corporation Commission reviews the increase and makes a final decision on APCo rates in July.

APCo also told customers it would let them work out a payment plan to pay their winter bills over the next several months.

Burns said that about 29,000 customers have made arrangements to pay the high bills from the winter. About 7,000, more than one third, of the arrangements came in May, when APCo had started cutting off power to customers who were not making payment arrangements.

Also, since January about 12,500 switched to APCo’s Average Monthly Payment Plan, which spreads the costs of high-usage months throughout the year, Burns said. “We did see an increase in calls or inquiries about those plans as we began to do disconnects for non-payments,” Burns said.

The company normally does not disconnect service during winter months. This year it extended the grace period through the spring because of the size of bills people were dealing with.

Some charities that help people pay electricity bills require a disconnect notice before they will pay a bill. That is the case with APCo’s Neighbor to Neighbor program as well as LynCAG’s emergency assistance program.

Jordan said that some of the people LynCAG has helped took the lack of a disconnect notice as a message that they didn’t really need to pay on their bills. Also, some tried to set up a payment plan but could not afford it. “They have to pay a certain amount monthly, along with their current bill, which is still a hardship,” she said.

Phelps said four of United Way’s partner agencies in the Lynchburg area have utility bill assistance programs, and all have seen an increased demand.

On Monday, the answering machine at one of those agencies, Salvation Army Family Services, was a sign of the need.

“Due to the high volume of electricity termination notices, we are filling up very rapidly in the mornings,” the voice message said. “… You will have to be here between 9 and 9:30 (a.m.) to be seen by noon.”