Another giant company (Pacific Power) Fucks the poor man

The last couple years of my life have been an absolute nightmare. I have been "asked" to move once - those landlords kept my deposit, I sued them and won but we all know how small claims go - it has been almost a year now and still no return of my deposit. I have been evicted once - hey not that it matters, my credit is already ruined, that landlord is known locally for doing shady things anyway.

It has been two years since I began my battle for Disability benefits. 15 years of carpentry took a massive toll on my body and I have had one back surgery already. But we all know that back problems are the most abused part of the disability department.

Well, at least I have a lawyer now to represent me since I have been officialy denied twice. My lawyer tells me it will be up to 2 years before my case can be reviewed.

So until the day finally comes that I have my disability in hand I spend much of my time begging from the local charities to help me and my family get by. Believe me, for someone that was used to earning their own way in life - the last couple years of my life have been quite humbling.

My most recent battle was with my local power company. On May 22nd I had contacted them about payment of a late bill at which time I paid them $90. The representative at the time relayed to me that I had a balance of $40 left and everything should be OK for a while.

Since I had just paid a bill I was not real concerned with paying to much attention to my mail. BIG MISTAKE. The next bill that they sent 10 days later (June 2) was a disconnect notice for $59. But since I wasn't paying attention to the mail I did not open this bill.

Then on June 15 (22 days from the date of me paying a $90 bill) one of their technicians knocks on my door and tells me that if i can't pay a substantial amount of the $59 owed (I was never able to get how $40 turned into $59) that he was going to disconnect my service.

Well, my wife and I were not even expecting to get disconnected a mere 22 days after paying a $90 bill. My wife proceeds to call the power company on the phone to work out a payment arangement. After several minutes of her talking on the phone while being badgered by their henchman at the door (belive me, if you would have seen his attitude you would think the term henchman to be light) the technician lost his patience and disconnected the power while my wife was on the phone.

Well, that did not make things any easier for us. Since the technician took it upon himself to "officially" disconnect our power over $59, the only way we could get our power back on was to come up with the full $59 - plus another $30 "reconnection" fee.

My wife was on the phone for quite some time with the power company representatives and we always got the same story "we do not care about you" we want our money, and since you are poor - we want even more money.

When asked why there was a $30 reconnection fee - we were told that was imposed to offset the cost of sending more people to reconnect the power. Hmmm, maybe if they didnt jump the gun and turn it off - they wouldnt have to "offsett" anything to turn it back on.


Well, after I called around to some charities I was able to find one willing to pay the $90 to get my power turned back on for me and my family of 6.

It really amazes me that a company of that size would be so threatened by the temporary loss of $59 that they would have to shut off our electricity. And even more amazing that not only do we get punished by having to suffer the indignity of having our power shut off - that we get billed another $30 on top of it all. It is like being kicked when you are already down.

The biggest issue I have with is, when our local companies lose sight of the community they are here serve, what does that say about us as Americans. The representatives hands are "tied" so to speak. The system they use leaves no room for negotiation and if any employee were to be sympathetic to a customer and bend the rules over a mere $59 they may lose their job.

It is really hard for me right now - i don't really fit anywhere. I am not "officialy" disabled yet, so I am one of the those people that fall between the cracks in the system. It seems that as time goes on - the cracks in the system get wider and wider.

I know there may not be a lot you can do personally, but I just wanted to bring your attention a few things for thought.

1) Why is the Disability system so far behind? I recently read an artile about how that system is going through restructuring to make it better - obviously that didn't work.

2) There needs to be some way for people "in-between" working and disability - like me, to be protected and not fall through the cracks.

3) It amazes me to think that huge companies like the power company can be so callous as to just shut someones power off over $59 - and then charge them another $30 on top of that - If I didn't know any better I would think they are doing their best to force those of us already in poverty to remain there - or even worse still - force us into an even deeper state of poverty. Are these companies really "threatened" at the thought of someone just trying to survive?


This Country, this State, even this small County has got to change. If we as Americans continue to remain apathetic to these giant companies and allow them to blatantly steal from those who are impoverished - things are only going to get worse.

Its been forever

So, I get to wait for up to "TWO YEARS" before I can see the judge about my Social Security reconciliation. What in the hell is that for a process. I will be long homeless and dead in the next two years.

I dont know how in the hell anybody else in this country ever made it that far. I put my share in the pot for 15 years while I worked.

Now I have to fight tooth and nail to get something that is rightfully mine.

Well, hopefully I can keep my elictric and phone and internet for just a little longer.