Meter shock: utilities try to help with bills that have skyrocketed

MODESTO, CALIFORNIA - A record-setting heat wave broke more than a week ago, but the pain isn't over.

Electricity bills are coming that will run two and a half to three times higher than normal for this time of year, according to Modesto Irrigation District officials.

Officials from Turlock Irrigation District and PG&E also expect higher-than-normal bills to arrive in mailboxes in the next few weeks.

The average residential MID bill in the summer months is $129, spokeswoman Kate Hora said.

Everyone's bills likely will go up this month, Hora said.

"There will be complaints and delinquent bills," said Lou Hampel, MID's budget and rates administrator. "A lot of customers will see humongous bill increases."

Many customers ran their air conditioners around the clock during the heat wave, to cope with temperatures that peaked above 110 and stayed in the mid-80s through the night.

The district will work with customers to help them deal with the large bills, but it won't have much sympathy for those who are chronically behind, Hampel said.

"I'm reluctant to cut them slack because we've been burned many times," he told the MID board of directors Tuesday morning.

Those who will have trouble paying the higher bills should contact the MID at 526-7337 as soon as possible to work out a payment schedule, Hora said.

"The worst thing they can do is wait and miss a payment without contacting us," Hora said. "Then, they are charged a late fee, and the bills start to pile up."

Turlock Irrigation District spokesman Tony Walker said customers have started calling about their bills, and more are still to come in the mail.

"You figure the average homeowner is using 400 kilowatt hours a month," he said. "Then you have enough air conditioners running on a 24-hour cycle like during the heat wave, you're going to see a jump."

Mark Hendrickson, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., said customers with bigger bills should call PG&E if they can't pay.

"We want to get to those customers as soon as possible," he said. "We recognize that the heat of one and a half, two weeks ago was unprecedented."

The Modesto Irrigation District has a policy not to cut off electricity to delinquent customers during a heat wave, but it doesn't turn power back on if it already has been shut off, Hampel said.

MID director Paul Warda said people who get electricity shut off might not be able to survive in a heat wave.

Board President Tom Van Groningen said high electricity bills are cheaper than a visit to the emergency room.

The district's electricity demand peaked at a record 698 megawatts on July 25 but has dropped back to about 500 megawatts.

"That's difficult to plan for," assistant general manager of electric resources Roger VanHoy said. "We used everything we had to get through."

That included running all of the district's power plants, asking industries to interrupt power flow and intermittently shutting off residential air conditioners of customers who volunteered for the district's STEP program.

The district also bought 5 megawatts from the Hershey plant in Oakdale, which has its own generators.

Running a plant designed just for peak demand at a cost of $100 a megawatt hour is normally no bargain, VanHoy said. It looked like one during the heat wave, when the going market rate for power was $400 a megawatt hour.

"The numbers are significant for people who wonder about the bill they receive," director John Kidd said.

The MID has several programs to help customers deal with electricity costs, but they are not retroactive, Hora said.

There are programs that offer lower rates to customers on medical life support and discounts for qualified low-income households.

MID offers a balanced payment plan that averages electricity costs over 12 months to avoid summer spikes, free checkups for residential and business customers to find out where energy savings can be made, and rebates for home products that save energy.

TID has a balanced payment program that's based on six months of usage, Walker said. The program is open to customers with a good TID credit history.

PG&E donated $100,000 last month to The Salvation Army's program for one-time assistance on utility bills, Hendrickson said.

The utility also offers a balanced payment plan, though customers will have to pay outstanding bills before enrolling, he said.