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Electric Bill Shocks Retiree

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: March 21, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Electric bills are zapping the budgets of many senior citizens already struggling through the recession, Maria Johnson complains.

Despite efforts to conserve, Johnson, a retiree, said her Progress Energy Florida bills for her Lakewood Villas residence have been topping $200 for several months, especially after the utility's Jan. 1 rate hike of nearly 25 percent.

Charitable programs to assist in paying utility bills run out of money quickly because they are swamped with requests, Johnson pointed out.

The Progress Energy rate reduction approved this week could help, dropping the cost for 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity by about $15 starting in April.

"That's not good enough," Johnson said, complaining about the amount of the rate reduction. "The damage has already been done. They've already gouged us. They did it at the worst time ever, in the middle of winter."

Some of her friends who are members of Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative saw bills go up this year only about 5 percent, she noted.

"I've been doing without heat," Johnson remarked about trying to conserve. She even tried to shorten baths. Yet her bills say she has been using more electricity this year.

It's difficult to know the circumstances of individual customers, Progress Energy spokeswoman Suzanne Grant observed.

"We had some very cold weather in January," Grant said, which could have prompted customers to turn on heat more often than they realized.

Progress Energy Florida offers many different programs to help, Grant noted.

Customers can request energy checks of homes to evaluate possible ways to save. About 48,000 of the evaluations were conducted in 2008, Grant said. Call toll-free 1-888-302-8348 or go online to savethewatts.com.

Progress Energy's EnergyWise rebates have helped 360,000 customers, who allow brief interruptions of power to central air systems, water heaters and other appliances during peak periods of electric demand. Go online to progress-energy.com or call toll-free 1-800-700-8744.

Another program, Budget Billing, averages monthly electric bills for 83,000 customers, Grant reports. Energy Neighbor Fund helps folks in crisis pay utility bills through local charities or churches. Money is donated by Progress Energy customers and employees. The Progress Energy Foundation doubled its contribution to $1 million to the fund last year.

West Pasco agencies which get Energy Neighbor Fund dollars include:

• Salvation Army West Pasco 727-847-6321, ext. 223.

• St. James Catholic Church 727-862-8580.

• St. Vincent DePaul 727-845-4955.

The Salvation Army got 54 phone calls pleading for help one day alone this week, according to Jeanne Coulter, manager of the Salvation Army Center of Hope, in Port Richey.

Requests for help easily top 200 a month, yet money through Energy Neighbor Fund might stretch far enough to help 20 people, Coulter said.

"We're down to $43 in this fund," Coulter said Wednesday. "It just goes so fast."

Because of the prolonged slowdown in the Pasco County economy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently quadrupled the funds it distributes to help with food, shelter and utility bills. Salvation Army will receive a share of $52,000 from the $317,000 in federal aid, Coulter said. Call 727-847-6321, ext. 223.

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