At Sept. 29 White House action
Baltimore residents to protest utility shutoffs
By Sharon
Black
Baltimore
Over 150,000 Baltimore Gas and Electric customers are behind
in their bills and will be receiving turn-off notices,
according to a front-page article in the Sun newspapers here
the last week in July.
By a conservative estimate from the Committee to Stop High
Gas and Electric Bill of the All Peoples Congress, at least one
out of every seven people in the BG&E area will be
affected.
Renee Washington, volunteer organizer for the Baltimore All
Peoples Congress, a grassroots community group that has been
fighting against utility bill increases, said, "Our seniors and
poor cannot ask the Navy to pay their bills!"
Washington was referring to Vice President Dick Cheney's
request that Congress shift his mansion's annual $186,000
electricity bill to the Navy.
"We are getting calls and visiting with people all over our
state who are suffering while they struggle to cope with
sky-high gas and electric bills," said Washington. "Many have
to choose between eating and heating or paying the rent and
mortgage. We have been flooded with calls from angry workers
who simply can't pay the bills."
Camille Holmes, a young mother of a 4-year-old son with
asthma, called the committee in desperation. Despite her pleas
to BG&E, she received a turn off notice.
Holmes says company representatives callously refused to
accept a reasonable payment arrangement, telling her she could
take her son to the hospital or he could die. She recently lost
her job and needed a little time to pay the entire amount.
Washington told of another customer she visited with in the
Highland Town section of Baltimore. This customer is 68 years
old. Her bill is over $2,000. BG&E has tacked on charges
for plumbing repairs--though the plumbing is still not
functional.
She continues to be without hot running water. None of her
bills indicates that the grants she received were credited. She
too has received a shut-off notice.
"You have to contrast these conditions to Vice President
Dick Cheney, who can so easily request his bill be paid by the
Navy. Of course, President George Bush and Cheney are in the
back pocket of the giant utility and oil companies.
"This is why our group has passed a resolution to mobilize
for the national protest against Bush and globalization on
Sept. 29. We will be boarding buses and forming a 'Heat and
Light Are a Right' contingent to demand 'No Shut-Offs, Roll
Back Utility Rates, People Before Profits,'" said
Washington.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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