In this modern age, having electricity isn’t ever going to be seen as a luxury, but rather it is always going to be seen as absolutely mandatory. Yet, as important as electricity is for everybody, not everybody has the money so needed to pay their bills always on time, and further to the point, unexpected expenses can absolutely wreak havoc on a family’s budget. Therefore, there are those people who fall behind on their electricity bill, not because it has not been prioritized, but more to do with not having enough capital to pay all their bills. Regrettably, for those that fall behind on their bills, the turning off of a family’s electricity is something that utility companies have the right to do, and is, in many places, set at just 45 days from the original due date. No doubt, the turning off of electricity, thus makes the turning back on of such the highest priority, which in effect, simply means robbing Peter to pay Paul.
It would seem that since utilities are regulated, that there should be more consideration for folks who have fallen behind on their electricity payments, so that they would not have to have their electricity turned off completely, as opposed to that being the case for those who are past due by a mere 45 days. While utility companies can fall back on stating that they provided fair notice of what they were going to do, that isn’t the issue. What the issue is, is that the turning off of electricity seriously changes the living conditions within the residence, and doesn’t take into fair account that people aren’t necessarily irresponsible, but simply don’t have the funds to pay their bill at that time. This signifies that rather than electricity being turned off completely, there should be a policy that electricity would be reduced to just eight hours a day, for ninety days, until the bill got current, and if that did not occur, then all power would be turned off.
Look, it has to be said, if the basic attitude is the law is the law, and that’s it; this doesn’t seem to take into consideration the vital importance of electricity, along with fact, that sooner or later in most cases, the electricity company is going to get whatever monies are owed to it, anyway, because once a given family fails to make good on their electricity bill, and they subsequently apply to get electricity in the future, they won’t be able to do so, because of their previous delinquency. So too, while there are exceptions made that electricity has to be kept on for very cold winter days or very hot summer days, depending on the rules of a given utility, which does show consideration, it isn’t going to be enough for those who still lack the funds.
Additionally, every business has a contingency for delinquencies, of which some of those delinquencies are not going to ever be paid, but because these businesses have so many accounts, they can successfully still make a reasonable profit, anyway. To believe, somehow, that the best policy is to shut off power for those who haven’t paid their bills, within 45 days of their due date, seems to be the type of policy that should be amended, because electricity is fundamentally important. To not do so would seem to reflect that profit trumps reasonable accommodation.