newsminer.com

GVEA President Brian Newton sent our legislators a important graph showing a spike in the number of accounts that have been disconnected because people didn't pay their bills in the first six months of the year.

The utility is asking for legislative support on efforts to reduce electric bills for Interior consumers who pay much more than residents of the Anchorage area.

In June and July, GVEA had to shut off nearly 90 accounts each month because of unpaid bills.

The number of delinquent accounts rose to 3,301 in July, up from 2,814 in June.

People may be delinquent on their bills for any number of reasons, but you've got to think that those who get disconnected are in real trouble.

In January, there were 3,359 delinquent accounts and 50 accounts were disconnected. In June, there were 87 disconnnects and in July there were 89.