Out in the cold

Johnette Wynkoop lights her small house in a wooded section of O'Hara every night with candles.

During the day, she reads library books or watches deer and birds from her porch. She uses money from her monthly disability payments to shop for a little food, nearly every day.

Her lamps, TV and refrigerator have been useless since June, when Duquesne Light shut off her power because she missed several bill payments. She also lived without natural gas for a few days in July and worries that Equitable Gas will shut her off again soon unless she can pay off a debt of about $1,000.

"They don't seem to care about people," Wynkoop, 55, said of the utilities. "They don't have a heart anymore."

More Pennsylvanians appear to be living without utilities than ever before.

As of late July, electric, gas and water companies determined to collect bad debt had shut off 167,624 customers statewide who failed to keep up with their bills, a 73 percent increase from last year. The state Public Utility Commission said 83,026 had been reconnected by late that month, after paying up or working out deals with the companies.

The utilities' more aggressive collection tactics, and a new state law that makes avoiding bills tougher and terminations easier, have been getting more attention in recent weeks. The first leaves are losing their color, bringing a reminder that living without electricity or gas could turn from an inconvenience to a life-threatening problem.

Utilities that serve Western Pennsylvania have said all along that they do, indeed, have a heart. But with energy prices skyrocketing, they're pushing customers who can afford to pay to stay current, and those with meager incomes to keep up with their steeply discounted bills to keep costs down for customers in good standing.

This month, as the PUC requires, electric and gas companies are starting a process to contact thousands of switched-off customers, telling them what they need to do to restore their service and urging them to work out new payment plans.

They're also stepping up efforts to publicize government and privately funded emergency grant programs, such as the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Pittsburgh-based $1 Energy Fund, which just changed its own grant eligibility standards to try to head off terminations.

Meanwhile, a few state legislators are trying to weaken the controversial Act 201, known as the Responsible Utility Customer Protection Act, which took effect in December and carries a variety of stricter collection practices, including winter terminations for many nonpayers with higher incomes.

The rise in shutoffs, coupled with forecasts for higher heating prices this winter, have social service agencies that try to help struggling utility customers wondering what the cold weather will bring.

"With the onset of the new law, we have had calls like never before," said Sister Patricia Cairns, executive director of Catholic Charities. "Almost every call of late is about utilities, and we deal with all kinds of situations. There is a growing crisis that needs to be addressed somehow."

Wynkoop said she plans to apply for grants this fall, and to try to work out new payment plans with Duquesne Light and Equitable.

She was enrolled in the state-required customer assistance plans that both utilities run, but said she missed payments amid complications from diabetes and other health problems.

After holding a series of office and retail jobs, she stopped working about two years ago. Her second heart attack almost killed her, she said, and she feels she can't handle the stress of a job now.

Wynkoop said her disability payment recently was cut to $338 a month, and while she lives alone she can't afford rent, food and even her minimal electric and gas payments. Duquesne Light had been billing her $30 a month. Equitable had been charging $65, she said, although the company said her discounted bill actually was $50.

Her gas service was restored after she obtained a one-month medical "hold" under her husband's name. They now are separated, she said, and the exemption expired Aug. 28.

Customer assistance plans are considered the best deals available for those who meet income guidelines, Duquesne Light spokesman Joe Balaban said, and in Wynkoop's case, the company froze her arrears -- meaning that the company would have written off her total debt over three years of consistent payments. Wynkoop said she owes the electric company about $1,000.

Equitable, at this point, will return Wynkoop to its regular collection cycle. For now, her monthly bill may be lower than the special payment amount, since gas typically is used only to heat water and fuel a stove in the summer, spokesman David Spigelmyer said.

Both companies said Wynkoop has an inconsistent payment history, and she concedes she let bills slip by as she fought to cope with illnesses, especially over the last winter. She also didn't apply last year for help through programs such as LIHEAP.

Pennsylvania utilities and their paying customers essentially have been asked to absorb a social welfare responsibility for those who can't pay, or just don't, at a time when energy prices are at record highs, Spigelmyer said.

The federal Energy Information Administration has said households should expect to pay 71 percent more for natural gas this winter.

"Although I have sympathy for this particular situation," Spigelmyer said of Wynkoop, "this needs to be addressed as a social service issue and not a utility issue."

The three gas companies are planning a signup day for LIHEAP in mid-November. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania asked the state Department of Welfare, which administers the federal heating assistance, to make grants available earlier in the fall so that struggling customers can avoid terminations or reconnect before cold weather hits, but they were turned down.

The utilities also point out that Pennsylvania, unlike surrounding states, sets aside no money to help utility customers. "New York has $77 million budgeted for utility help," Spigelmyer said.

Some state legislators who have tried in the past are trying to change key provisions of Act 201.

Sen. Jim Ferlo has four cosponsors so far for a package of bills he expects to introduce Sept. 26. The bills, in part, would require PUC approval for all winter shutoffs, essentially turning that process back to pre-Act 201 standards, and would mandate personal contact with a customer before a termination.

Face-to-face contact may raise the "level of seriousness" and spur a customer to deal with the problem, Ferlo spokesman Stephen Bruder said.

State Rep. Camille "Bud" George introduced legislation to mandate a 30-day written notice before termination, although utility officials have said a customer's first bill statement after a missed payment contains a warning and actually serves this purpose. George is a Clearfield County Democrat and chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

The $1 Energy Fund, foreseeing more applications for grants this winter because of the effects of Act 201, has increased the maximum amount of its grants for this year, from the $400 limit last year.

The fund built through contributions and matching dollars from 17 utilities statewide also has made its early grants available to lower income customers facing termination, not just those who already have been shut off.

The fund wants to head off terminations to prevent customers from being charged reconnection fees and deposits of as much as two months' payments, said Nick Meddis, the fund's chief financial officer.

The $1 Energy Fund this past year gave grants totaling just over $3 million to 9,925 households. The average grant was $303, as compared with $274 for the previous season, and the fund likely will continue to give fewer, larger awards to help customers pay off large arrearages.

Additional Information:

Switched off

Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, 6,000

Dominion Peoples Gas, 3,000

Equitable Gas, 4,650

Allegheny Power, 3,828

Duquesne Light, 2,350

Pennsylvania American Water, 13,700 statewide