Story research, honest. What happens in the US when you don't pay your utility bills on time? Things like gas, electric, water, cell phone, and ISP? How many times and how frequently are you warned before you come home and the light switches etc simply don't work, and what's the process for getting them back on? Google says there are late fees, but I want my MC to be hanging on the edge of "Which utility do I need most?" Also, a cell phone that's been cut off due to nonpayment can still be used for Skype and internet if you can find free wifi, right? Gotta get this guy just short of homeless... Now I feel bad for him.
Random minor factlets: - I think that if you've been turned off, you may have to pay a deposit to get it turned back down. - Cell and ISP tend to be pure corporate. - Gas, water, electricity tend to be government. - Certain vulnerable populations have, I believe, some protections--I don't think they turn the heat off on an eighty year old in the depth of winter. But I don't actually know how they know there's an eighty year old in there. - A friend of mine who's a landlord had a tenant take off, and it was a while before he realized. The utilities hadn't been paid for...maybe two or three months? and they left physical notices on the door, of pending shutdown.
I used to work at a call center, handling concerns with cell phone billing. We usually wouldn't shut their phone off after one month (unless their account was brand new). When the next bill cycle started, if they still hadn't paid their bill, we'd shut down their service and a $40 charge to the account. When you're phone doesn't have service, you should still be able to connect to free wifi, though different companies/phones (some make/provide their own phone models) might be different. Having lived without electricity at times when I was younger, IIRC, it takes a couple of months of not paying your bills before they cut you off.
Ugh. You’re giving me nightmares of my childhood. (Kidding. I’m glad to help.) We weren’t “on paper” poor, but excessive drinking and gambling were expensive, so things were constantly under threat of getting shut off. Electricity and water, they give you a couple of months of nonpayment, but late charges apply. When it’s cut off you have to pay the entire balance, late fees, plus a deposit to get it turned back on, and when I was a kid, that had to be paid in person, at the electric company, by money order or certified check from the bank. Now they’re probably fine with a credit card, but you can’t do it online. Phone (landline; I didn’t have a cell phone til I was an adult) you could be way behind if you pay them like, 1/3 of it. The cable company doesn’t play. Miss a month, and if it’s a day late on the second month it’s turned off and hefty late charges plus equipment fees (cable box, modem/router) apply. Cable may sound like a luxury, but we lived in a town surrounded by mountains so you couldn’t get TV reception or radio reception without it, so being without cable sucked. Most of the time, my mom used to stave off everyone and keep everything turned on while having enough for groceries by making partial payments to everyone every pay period (every two weeks). Sometimes, like during the hot summer months when we needed the AC all the time, other things had to be turned off in order to keep the electricity on. Groceries were the item that was last in the priority list. Hope that helps! ETA: I had a friend who went to an exclusive private school (in the US), and when his parents divorced they fell behind in paying his tuition. On the day of midterms, two people from the administration office came into the classroom and pulled him out of class right after he started an exam and sent him home. So...apparently some private schools don’t play either.
I can only answer for gas service and heating oil in states where winter is a real thing. When I worked as an OTP interpreter, every spring these calls would flood in. Most states in the tundra-zone have laws against turning off your gas during the cold months no matter how much you fall behind (what those months are vary), so come spring people are rushing to get into payment plans for HUGE bills, or looking for charitable organizations to pledge payments for them.
Yeah, I concur that it is a state law, not a Federal law. I've lived in two states that did not have such laws regarding A/C in 115 degree temperatures, which can have equally dire consequences, especially for the elderly. @Iain Aschendale My guess is that the state utility commission might be a good source for procedures regarding shut offs.
Add-on: it also depends on situation in house and it depends on laws in the state. I can only speak for Wyoming for the most part. I worked at an agency that dealt with a financial program to help low-income people pay for their heating costs in the winter (weather it was wood pellets, gas, or electricity). I found out that the state wouldn't allow the electricity to be shut off if there were young children in the home, if the person was elderly, and if a person was ill and on machinery that ran on electricity. During the winter this law was strictly enforced and companies were hesitant to shut off power during that time even if a person was months behind paying (and healthy). Some companies will also offer repayment plans that can have very low monthly payments in order to help someone catch up on what they owe while also still having that utility. If the power was shut off for whatever reason, the companies would take a new deposit in order to have it turned back on and/or they would require the person to pay what was owed. It could take awhile, though, depending on season. A cell phone that can still connect to the internet can be used for internet-based activities when connected. It can also still call 9-1-1. I have an old phone that I can still use if I keep it attached to wi-fi.
It also depends on what is happening at large at the time. I am fortunate to currently live in a community of wealthy (the 1200 square foot house I live in will be go on the market later in the year for around $3 million). When there is a big downturn in tech, markets, the mortgage mess a few years ago, etc, there is much more leniency in paying, by several months. Right now, if an Xfinity bill is a few days past you notice hiccups in service and it will be shut off in 30 days. A few years ago in a big downturn, my state, California, announced that police would not be pulling people over for a list of things normally gone after. It was apparent to the state that many were in financial hardship, so they suspended tickets for things like vehicle registration being late, smoking vehicles, broken lights, etc. On top of that, most big service providing companies have their own areas mapped out for how they deal with those areas. Where I live, a company like Xfinity won't readily listen to someone claiming financial hardship due to the median income and way of life, whereas if I go to an area where I lived in the past that same phone call takes about 2 minutes because they have that area marked as a financial hardship area.
The light and gas stuff varies from state to state and in most states county to county. I work for an energy supplier, and just in Ohio there are about 30 different utility companies all with different rules and regs (this isn't even a big state). As far as phone service, even though they shut the Lifeline program down (or gutted it), you can get free cell phone service in most of the country (and free phones). Hope that helps.
My electric company is pretty strict. Let's say your due date is the 15th. You have until the 27th (or some other date around then) or they cut you off, then you have to pay like, a $200 re-instatement fee, plus your bill. My water company is less strict. You have a month after your bill is due before they cut you off, but again, if cut off, there is a hefty re-instatement fee. Verizon is willing to work with you- as long as you schedule a date to pay, they allow you to be late. They will call and sound all scary "If you don't pay now you will be cut off" but then you can be like..."Ok, well how about if I pay you in 10 days?" and they are like, "Oh, ok, cool, but we're totally pulling it from your account on that date, so it'd BETTER BE THERE. But 'til then, we cool. Enjoy your cell phone service."