Thousands can't pay their power bills

Squeezed by the soaring costs of food and gasoline, droves of North Carolina residents are getting their power cut off because they haven't paid their bills.

Duke Energy, the state's biggest power company, is experiencing a spike in late payments. The Charlotte utility has disconnected 38 percent more customers in April than in the same month a year ago. The power company, which serves Durham and the western Triangle, has increased disconnects 14 percent this year, cutting power to 43,499 customers in four months.

Progress Energy's disconnects are up more than 5 percent for April, compared with the same month last year. But a repayment program that helps customers prioritize spending has let the company decrease total disconnects in the first four months of the year by nearly 1 percent. During that time it cut power to 35,112 customers in four months, according to filings with the state utilities commission.

The number of utility customers seeking aid from social service agencies is up about 25 percent over last year throughout the Triangle, according to officials in Wake and Durham counties. The agencies provide emergency cash to people who typically have incomes of about $14,000 for a single-person household and about $25,000 for a family of three.

In the past year, Wake County Human Services administered $1.5 million in aid to 6,173 needy households seeking help on utility payments, including electricity and natural gas.

"People are not able to make ends meet," said Jack Rogers, director of economic self-sufficiency for Wake County Human Services. "People are having to make difficult choices -- paying for utilities, paying for groceries, paying for gasoline."

It doesn't help that poorer people tend to live in substandard housing with faulty insulation, leaky ducts and poorly maintained air conditioners -- circumstances that can make it twice as expensive to cool and heat a home.

Once customers fall behind, however, they can get trapped in a cycle of late bills.

That's what happened to Laurea Flagg, a 59-year-old nursing assistant who is on disability and out of work. The Durham grandmother said she lives on $741 a month. In April, she had to pay Duke Energy $180 or face disconnection. Flagg got relief from Durham Social Services.

"By the grace of God I'm just able to make it," Flagg said. "I don't know how we're going to be able to make it next year this time."

Flagg said she has had to get help to pay her utility bills several times in the recent past from social service agencies. Durham Social Services has three emergency utility assistance programs, one of which offers up to $750 a year in aid.

Fortune 500 power companies such as Duke and Progress have few public relations challenges bigger than cutting electricity to poor families. Both utilities donate to groups such as Share the Warmth, Cooling Assistance and Fan Relief that distribute the money to local groups that help people pay utility bills. A year ago, Duke donated $2.1 million to such groups. In addition to supporting Warmth for Wake and other programs, Progress also donates up to $500,000 a year to its own Energy Neighbor Fund.

Too hot or too cold

Duke and Progress allow customers three months to pay their bills and can grant extensions. The companies are prohibited by law from cutting off power when the temperature falls below freezing or when the summer heat index rises above 105 degrees.

But utility officials say they have no choice but to disconnect customers who make no effort to pay their bills. Often, it's the same customers who are delinquent and end up repeatedly disconnected.