With the day’s high at 31 degree, two dozen homes in Southern Maryland were without electricity as of Thursday afternoon due to non-payment, but a spokesperson for the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative said that does not mean people are still living at those homes.
“Some of them might have changed addresses,” Tom Dennison, Director of Public and Media relations, told The Bay Net Thursday.
SMECO ended its quarter-century old policy of no power cut-offs in winters more than a year ago, but began applying the shut-off policy in March 2006 when power was cut off to at least 18 homes.
In adopting the Winter Termination Policy, the SMECO said it was trying to emulate the Baltimore Gas Electric and PEPCO.
An additional 83 homes lost their electric supply this winter season.
Dennison said the SMECO takes plenty of due diligence before cutting off power. This includes two months without paying for the bills and a 15 day notice, Dennison said.
Under the law power supply can not be shut off when temperatures fall below 32 degrees, but Dennison said there was a 24-hour window during some of the winter days when the temperatures did not fall below the 32 degrees and that was when the power supply to the 101 homes were shut off.
“We had zero disconnections since January 1, 2007,” Dennison said. He said of the 101 disconnections, power supply has been restored to 77 patrons. However, Dennison did not give out the sum owed by the two dozen homes that are without electricity.
More than 1,600 homes in St. Mary’s County face a hard time paying for their electric bills.
As many as 1,693 households in St. Mary’s applied for energy assistance last year and 1,478 applications were accepted, said Ruth Harrod, director of the Maryland Energy Assistance Program.
Harrod said $644, 657 in federal and $552,710 in state grants covered to help the needy.
“This year, until Jan. 31, 2007, the Southern Maryland Tri-County Community Action Committee paid $134,486 for those on disconnect notice in St. Mary’s,” Harrod said.
According to grant programs, a single person making no more than $1,633, a two-person family making under $2, 200, a three-person family making $2,766 or less, a four-person family making up to $3,300, a five person making $3,900, or a six person-family making under $4,466 each month are eligible for energy assistance.
This winter season as of January 31, Harrod said her office paid $134,486 for those who were on disconnect notices. She said 1,291 households in St. Mary’s applied for energy assistance this current winter season and 1,189 of those applications were accepted. To become eligible for energy assistance applications have to be made by May 15 for electricity and April 30 for bulk fuel like kerosene oil.
Individuals who want to help fellow citizens in distress can make donations that SMECO pledges to match for it calls Project Match. “We received $25,000 until January and matched that sum,” Dennison said. But the maximum SMECO said it would be willing to go to match is $50,000.
Dennison said the two dozen homes still without power supply were spread out all over Southern Maryland, but could not provide an exact break-down on locations.
For more info on seeking assistance, call Ruth Harrod: 301-274-4474 or 301-475-5574.