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Monday, March 23, 2009
News Got gas? Some don't
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 10:14 AM
So many people are reaching out to non-profits, like Crisis Ministry, for help that the gas company sent a customer service representative to their offices to assist Piedmont Natural Gas customers in dire straights. They estimate he helped over 1,000 people in November and December of 2008.
Piedmont Natural Gas shut-offs have surged around Charlotte and the state in the cold-weather months, as some consumers struggle with deciding what bills they can pay in a deteriorating economy.From November through February, shut-offs in the Charlotte region increased by 86 percent compared with the same time a year ago, an Observer analysis of state data shows. The utility's shut-off rate also increased statewide, even as other utilities' rates for shut-offs dropped statewide.
State officials say Piedmont, which is the dominant gas provider in Charlotte and the state, is doing nothing wrong in its shut-off procedures. And company officials say that they believe the increase is due both to the economy and to internal changes that delayed some cutoffs until last fall. They also say that overall, shut-offs declined slightly last year.
“We are very concerned for our customers,” said June Moore, Piedmont's customer service vice president. “We hate to do (shut-offs) but sometimes it becomes necessary.”
Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.
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