Seeing a $450 to $600 electricity bill no longer fazes Patricia Young of Itta Bena, Miss., a city of about 1,800 people in the Mississippi Delta. Some months, the bill for Ms. Young’s home and the day care center she owns can total almost $1,000. Despite concerns by Ms. Young and other residents about their costly bills, the city was threatened with the potential loss of power after accumulating hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with its electrical provider over more than a decade. The city — which buys electricity wholesale and then resells it to residents — owed more than $800,000 to the wholesaler, Municipal Energy Agency of Mississippi, as of August. The agency sent a letter that month to the Mississippi Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities in the state, saying it would pull out as the city’s electrical provider by Dec. 1 because of the unpaid debts.

Source: New York Times November 01, 2020 10:52 UTC