Families scramble to keep the lights on as utility bills pile up
A shutoff notice from her power company left Eboney Allmon worried about losing the rental home she's lived in since April. (Barbara Shelly | Flatland)
Pandemic Pushing People To The Economic Edge
By Barb Shelly
Since the day in August when she lost her job as a preschool teacher, Eboney Allmon has scrambled to keep up with household expenses.
She landed a few interviews for work-from-home jobs, but no offers. She applied for unemployment, but hasn’t received any yet. She braids hair to earn some extra cash.
“Every little bit of change I get I pay on my bills,” Allmon said.
She was $250 behind on payments when Evergy, her electric company, mailed her a notice telling her she risked having her power disconnected. “I was scared,” said Allmon, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, with her two teenage children and three grandchildren. “My first thought was for my kids.”
Her predicament is shared by thousands of people around the Kansas City region who have lost jobs or seen their hours cut due to economic and health disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have 50 people waiting in the cue right now for utility help,” said Shilo Foster, a case manager at Bishop Sullivan Center, one of a number of agencies in Kansas City that offers assistance.
Many of those people, like Allmon, have never sought assistance before. And many of them owe much more than $250. Moratoriums on shutoffs in the early months of the pandemic helped many customers through those rough times. But their bills were only delayed, not erased.
Now, as winter closes in and a third wave of the pandemic builds, the debts are piling up.