ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — Every month, Charenthia Blocker opens her utility bill not knowing what number she’ll find.

Some months, it’s as low as $300. Others, the total climbs above $1,000, sometimes reflecting two months of charges combined after she’s had to request extensions just to keep the lights on.

“How do I expect to live in my home comfortably?” Blocker said. “If it’s cold, I got to have heat. If it’s hot, I got to have air. I shouldn’t have to decide if I’m going to have either one of those and buy food or get gas.”

Blocker has lived in her home for 14 years. She is asthmatic. A doctor’s note requires her to run a breathing machine frequently. It’s a device that keeps her out of the hospital, but she said adds to her electricity demand even more.

“I’m required to have electricity,” she said. “So I have to see what I’m going to take first, do I want to worry about my life? I have no choice... And that means I got to pay them.”

Blocker, a widow with a grandchild, explained what she’s left with after paying Albany Utilities, which covers water, gas, and electricity.

“Every penny that I get has to go on my utility bills,” she said. “And I only have, like, maybe $200, $300 left after.”

When bills stack up, and she can’t pay in full, she said she requests extensions, but that adds more financial pressure.

She explained that other necessities are cutback: skipped oil changes, car repairs put off, and home repairs left undone.

“I needed an oil change. I didn’t get it. My car started making noise. I couldn’t get it because I was paying them,” Blocker said. “Items in my house, my bathroom, I couldn’t get a lot because I’m giving them my earnings.”

Blocker has turned to outside resources, including the Neighborhood Service Center, which she says has helped her before, but only once a year, and only up to a certain payment limit.

As South Georgia swings between intense heat waves and sharp cold snaps, utility costs for many families have climbed.

Mark Willis, the Residential Energy Conservation Auditor for Albany Utility Company, said extreme temperatures force heating and cooling systems to work harder and longer, meaning the more energy you use, the higher your bills. For families already behind on payments, that cycle can be nearly impossible to break.

“Your HVAC system or your heating and cooling system, it typically uses 50% of a whole house power,” Willis said. “So if they can keep that thermostat set at 68 degrees during the winter and 78 degrees during the summer, and also change their air filters once a month.”

Albany Utilities could not provide someone to answer the question Blocker and many Albany Utility customers have: Why are Albany Utility bills fluctuating so dramatically month to month?

“Every time you try to make it, you get hit in the stomach,” Blocker said. “I can’t [afford] to be paying them all my money when I got to provide for myself and my grandkids, and my children. It’s just unfair.”

WALB will follow up on this story once we receive that answer.

Albany Utilities provided a list of resources for assistance:

• DFACS, 229-430-4118
• SWG Community Action Council/Neighbors in Need, 229-883-1365
• Salvation Army, 229-435-1428
• United Way, 229-883-6700
• 90WORKS (veterans only), 855-909-6757

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