no that is not true Sharon.....I live in PA and have supplied medical forms and even had the doctor called twice and they still shut my power off. had chemotherapy medicine in the frigerator for terminally ill child and told them that and they did not care. all i owed was $500 and they shut me off. they do not care at all. it is hard enough dealing with a child who has cancer and then you miss work cause you have to take them to the doctors and the hospitals and no one cares let alone they wont even help. i have had everything disconnected at one time or another electric, water and even the phone......

Yes momm2500 I can relate. Living in Ohio with a terminally ill child and being a single mother, didn't stop the electric company, my landlord, the bank that held my car loan from wanting their money. As I was the sole provider I had to make a decision to take care of my child during his final months or work to pay the bills. I had to drive my child two hours away for medical treatment and of course needed to be with him. These people are heartless. It is hard enough dealing with the emotional stress of your child dying and then dealing with these companies that don't care. Finally a local organization stepped in and helped me, but the companies never backed off; they demanded their money. It doesn't matter where you live, it is always about money!

PLEASE, PLEASE, everyone read the whole story on this!! This is not a case of the evil power company vs the infirmed. Gulf Power has helped this family NUMEROUS times before. This family has even done this previously and received lots of money for their bills. Their neighbors claim that they smoke, drink, party, but they keep asking all the people here for donations. It's one thing if you really NEED the help, but it's horrible if you're doing doing your part to help your family! READ the WHOLE story, don't just fall for the "teaser" headlines!

Nope, PECO will shut off your bill. I owed a whopping $231.23. I was paying it 6 days late...and I got a shut off notice that if it wasn't paid in full (about $110 was 6 days past the due date, and the rest was the "estimated" bill for the current month) by the next day, the power would be shut off. I am 6 months pregnant, am type 1 diabetic, and have a 3 year old. My husband called them just to tell them it would be paid in full the following Friday when he got paid (he only gets paid bi-weekly). After 30 minutes on the phone, we got an extenstion until that Friday. It was insane.
Oh, and for the record, our payment has never been late or missed in the 6 years we have been with PECO.

Not so lucky here in good ole Lee county, Florida! Lee County Electric
Co-op has shut off the power on several occasions on my daughter!
She is 19, suffered 2 strokes during surgery, is feed thru a feeding tube and breathes thru a trac, needs power for suction machine so she doesn't suffocate. Lee County Electric could not care less, they are aware of her condition, Their only conceren is to get the bill paid, and to lecture me on how if I would pay my bill on time then my power would not get shut off! I was layed-off in June. I was shut off for being 2 days late on a $250 electric bill. Where's the justice in that, and it was on a Friday afternoon!

Same here in Massachusetts.

i am sorry but pay your darn bills and you wont be in this situation. i struggled many years but always managed to pay the neccisity bills. where is this person's money going to?

Missy No where in the article does it mention your claims of previous help from the electric company, or remarks from neighbors regarding smoking, drinking and parties. Where did YOU get this information?

MAYBE THE UTILITY COMPANIES SHOULS CHARGE A FAIR PRICE AND PEOPLE COULD AFFORD TO PAY THEM, THEY OUR NO BETTER THAN A THIEF, EXCEPT OUR GOVERMENT ALLOWS IT A MONOPOLY , WITH EXTREME PROFITABILITY.

If you contact your State Rep, they have the power to prevent any utility from being shut off under life threating situations. So contact tact them and make your situation known.

We are a small nonprofit that has been in business since 1994. We help low income households with special funding to purchase homes. This year we too have had problems making ends meet. But no one is coming to bail us out. We are too small. We are a hard working organization and care about the folks we have helped. But unfornately no one is coming to bail us out. Many families who lived in very poor conditions have worked hard on their credit and saved money in order to help their children with a better place to live. Is there anybody out there that can help us. We are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) I understand where that father was coming from because my son also was ill and needed help and they will cut off your electricity. No one care about the little guy only the big companies that need bailing out. Unbelieveable
thanks

wow, I am so sorry. At first I couldn't believe no one had posted to this story. Now I've realize that even though the utility company's send their jargon of medical necessity notices, it's just that...jargon. They are required by law to send the notice, but that it doesn't mean anything. I hope to god I never have to go through anything like this and my prayers are with the rest of you who have loved ones who are stapped financially and would perish without basic utility service.

Was this in the movie SAW?

Hall Monitor
http://detentionslip.org

This guy found out that Gulf Power cannot (by law here) turn off your electricity for non payment of your, until it reaches > $2000 and then they have to get a court order. And that is what they did. Then the non payers pulled this big stunt to get attention and several nice people (who is probably regretful now) came forward and not only paid their past due bill, but threw in enough to cover them for the next 4-5 months. The kicker is this isn't his real daughter, this is a foster child. When they interviewed he and his wife on the local news I wanted to puke. The foster mom was on the news with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, the house looked deplorable. The real question is why is the Florida Department of Children and Families allowing this foster to remain in the home? They are using this child for a monthly paycheck from the state. DISGUSTING!!!

I agree with Uly. They even let him go pretty long without paying, so they gave him a chance. If he was tight for monmey but knew his daughter's life depends on electricity why would he choose not to pay the electricity bill?

Maybe because he choose to pay for food, medicines for his daughter, transportation to Doctors for himself and his daughter, and to make sure they had a roof over their heads. I don't know were he was getting money to pay for anything, since he isn't able to get unemployment. He must have had some money coming in or some savings because it says in the article that he kept up with his bills for awhile. I'm sure he had to make a choice, to pay for electricity or pay for something else. The something else obviously won.

Around here electric companies don't cut electricity off when there is medical need, some of them even have a special fund to help in these situations. I am surprised that they didn't suggest that he apply for assistance of some sort. I'm surprised that he didn't apply for everything he qualified for.

Yes, he had more important things to pay for. However, when he initially realized he was going to be unable to meet his financial obligations to the power company, it was his responsibility to call the company and inform them of his dilemma. He should never have allowed it to get so far out of hand to where they had no choice but to turn off his power.

As a responsible adult, you don't just stop paying your bills. You call someone to figure out what to do when you end up in a situation like this gentleman. Or, they cut the service, repo your belongings, or garnish your wages, if you have any. These companies are businesses, it is not their jobs to hold your hand through your inability to pay, but, more often than not, they are willing to help you find a solution.