Unpaid utility bills stack up in Pennsylvania
Unpaid utility bills top $315 million in PA in 2014
As true winter weather approaches the East Coast of the U.S., a new report outlined the growing issue of unpaid utility bills in the state of Pennsylvania.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) reported that in 2014, debt owed by 680,000 residential electric and gas customers across the state added up to a staggering $315 million.
Unpaid bills to Pennsylvania utilities total $315 million in 2014 https://t.co/0NKeLbezDD pic.twitter.com/q1PFP3xIlb
— Pittsburgh PG (@PittsburghPG) January 13, 2016
The PUC report analyzed debt collection and customer assistance programs at both electric utilities and natural gas utilities in Pennsylvania, and discovered that customer debt made up from 3.4 percent to 4.3 percent of total revenue at the utilities.
More customers on assistance programs
Because utilities are considered to be a “basic need”, customers are often given many chances to get out of utility debt — payment plans and/or programs for low-income customers may be available to those in debt.
Source → Pittsburgh Post-Gazette“It’s not like cable, where, OK, we’re going to turn you off if you don’t pay their bill. Since energy and utility services are really essential for human beings, utilities are going to take on debt,” Rita Urbaniak, manager of universal services at Peoples Natural Gas, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
