_Bangor Hydro trying to collect on past-due bills_ (http://bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=164067&zoneid=176) disconnection notices = approximately 46,000 the electric company has issued this year to its 118,000 customers = 39%....crg -billions to Iraq per month but no effort to control energy costs at home Peace, Hugs, and Purrs Carolyn Rose Goyda Saint Louis, Missouri USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Bangor Hydro trying to collect on past-due bills By _Nok-Noi Ricker_ (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) Thursday, May 08, 2008 - Bangor Daily News BANGOR, Maine - Knowing their electricity wouldn’t be cut off in the winter, local residents Lana and Jon Courtright chose to buy food and gasoline instead of paying their electric bill. The bill was placed on the back burner and now "we’re just behind," Lana Courtright said on Wednesday, adding the couple received a disconnection notice from Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. a couple of days ago for the $400 past due bill. "What are you going to do," she said. "You need those two [gas and groceries] to pay the other one." The disconnection notice is just one of approximately 46,000 the electric company has issued this year to its 118,000 customers, Kim Wadleigh, senior director of customer operations at Bangor Hydro, said Wednesday. The company has unpaid customer bills totaling $3.6 million. Most of the disconnection notices were sent to residential purchasers, she said. More customers have been issued past-due notices this year and the average past-due amount also is more than last year, Wadleigh said. "The average balance owed per disconnect order for 2008 is $393, as compared to last year which was $352," she said. She added later, "We’ve been looking at this since 2005 and there is an upward trend." Central Maine Power, which has 600,000 residential and business customers in Maine, declined to provide current disconnect notice figures, but in 2007 disconnected 18,553 customers for unpaid bills, according to Maine Public Utilities Commission figures. The PUC is the agency that protects residents from disconnection in the cold winter months, CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice said Wednesday. "The PUC rules, known as the winter disconnect rule, basically state that between Nov. 15 and April 15 residential disconnections need PUC approval," she said. "This applies to all utilities" not just electric companies. "Generally, you don’t see disconnections between those months," Rice said. Rice added that if customers make an effort to make payments, they generally will not be disconnected. "Customers who do get a disconnection notice can call us," she said. "We can work together [and] we are very successful in negotiating with customers to avoid disconnection." The disconnection notices give customers one month to pay the bill or make payment arraignments. The key to keeping electricity connected is not avoiding the bill, Wadleigh said. "If they can just pay something" it shows effort, she said. "We understand it ’s the cost of living in Maine. You only have so much money going around and you have to have heat, [so] we sometimes have to go on the back burner during the winter." Jon Courtright added that this year’s jump in gasoline prices has really put his family in a pinch. "We’re dishing out $40 [a week] for gas," he said. "Times that by four and that’s the electric bill right there." Mal Leary of Capitol News Service contributed to this report. **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
