PG&E Debt, electric company $3000 help!

Explain what you mean by "through fraud". If this bill is fraudulent then you should report it to the police and PG&E should not hold you responsible.

im in the process of working it out with my landlord and authorities, however pg&e will not claim responsibility in my particular situation, i have talked it over at length with them about it already

with that said lets just assume I have accrued this bill myself, my main objective is keeping my lights on and paying the bill, with compensation to me coming later through my landlord and elsewhere...

what should i do?

Ok, particular times:

Where do you live? ( I assume California)

How old are you or the oldest person living in your residence? (Might be able to stop termination due to health concerns.)

What happened? (Did your landlord tie electrical/gas into your meters, open an account in your name for a different place, etc.)

i am the oldest person in my house at 24-
people who lived in another part of my residence connected to me used an enormous amount of power over a 2 year span and were paying the bill for about a year and payed minimum amounts for another year give or take, finally moving out and disappearing on me. They left this bill which has been and is in my name with me :(

Any serious medical problems that lack of power can cause to be life threatening?

How did they "connect to you"? did they tap into your lines (if so this is theft of utilities and is a criminal matter).

Did PG&E open an account for them using your name? (Fraud=crime)

Did you know about it but since they were paying the bill you let it slide? (SORRY but that was not smart)

Did your landlord know about this and approved it or did not stop it? (My comercial landlord did this to my company and once we found out we figured out how much was owed and just did not pay the rent until we were repaid.)

If they did then they can be held responsible for allowing the theft.

Talk to you landlord if this is not the case and see if they can get the account put into the company name with a seperate bill that you will pay.

You might want to talk to a lawyer about this and see if something can be done

Did you know about it but since they were paying the bill you let it slide? (SORRY but that was not smart)
^^that about sums it up...

i guess i am just wondering if there are any 3rd party agencies that can help me out with this situation?

i am fine with paying the bill and all that, I just need to know if there is any way aside from medical reasons, (since in my case there aren't any) that I can prevent my power from being turned off...perhaps you have suggestions on that end?

If you live in California contact the Public Utilities Commission and see if there is any prohibitions on terminating service.

I assume that you are paying this bill down while keeping current.

If you knew about the situation and did nothing to stop it, and you are fine with paying it, then it is not fraud.

Utility companies such as electric is usually very god with working with people. But, I guess since total due is now $3,000 they finally drew a line.

Have you had payment arrangements with them in the past, and you've neglected them? Could be why they are unwilling to work with you now.

As Cellular states, contact the Public Utilities Commission, and get a live person on the phone. Let them know you will be shut off any any giving moment.

In the meantime, see if a friend or relative will become a third party for you. You may be embarrassed to ask, but it would be more embarrassing to explain why you have no power.

Good luck!!!!

yeah, im definitely not smart...and i dont have any real family up here i've heard of having a 3rd party and all that...
and yes i did miss a payment agreement, they arranged a 3 month agreement at roughly 1000 a month and i missed this month thats why im in this predicament...

i guess im asking if those commercials for debt consolidation have any meaning...is there any way a 3rd party would loan me the money and let me make payments of even 500 dollars a month or so for 6 or 7 months (obviously with interest)

ill give the public utilities commission a call as well, and thanks everyone for your suggestions

Don't beat yourself up too much! Most of us on this forum have had our share of problems with debt; that's why we're here! We've had to learn the hard way too!

Since you say your credit isn't very good, I don't know that you would be able to get a loan. Is there any lesser amount that PG&E will accept in order to keep your electricity on? Have you tried calling at different times and talking to different people? I have found with my creditors that often one person will tell me one thing and then the next person that I talk to tells me something different.

Good luck!

^^sorry, didnt know i had logged out...but yeah the above post was me

I was not trying to insult you with the not smart comment.

I would try a bank or credit union for a loan if that is what you are thinking. A debt consolidation company does not loan money what they do is make arrangements with your creditors to reduce interest and payments. You pay the consolidation company and they make the payments for you.

PG&E probably won't accept this. If you only missed one payment go to PG&E and explain to them what happened and see if you can come up with another arragnement.

When I was unemployed for about 4 months and had a money shortage making my PG&E payment, I contacted them and they made a very reasonable arrangement. When I could not make the payment i called them and they modified the payment agreement to accommodate me. Granted it was not $3,000 but they want their money and are understanding about payments if you are upfront with them.

i suppose so...ill give them a shout, in previous conversations with them they have told me there was nothing else they could do for me..maybe its worth just continuing to call them and seeing if i get an understanding person or something...i've even spoke with supervisors and all that with no luck at all `=(

If you have a room mate see if they would be willing to put the elec in their name. If you don't have a room mate then get one and see if they will put the elec in their name. The 3000 bill would stay in your name but you could shut off the elec then reconnect in their name. Check the landlord and see if you can connect in his name. I doubt he would approve but he also won't want his property sitting without electric.

I have a simalar problem, I use to have a roomate and his part was to pay for the PG&E bill and my part was the cable and phone. Well he never told me that he was behind on the bill and they shut it off. Whit kids in the house and no electricity for two days I finally call the company and wanted to open an acount under my name and they ask me if I was a new tenant, so I say no because of them knowing that It was shut off. But anyway to keep it short they would not let me turn on the the electricty with under my name because at the time when it was under my roomate name I also use the electricy and still had to pay the bill even it was under my name. So after two week with no light and staying over at my mom house. I finally had to move out and fine a differnt place, but guess what happen because of my roomate not paying his part of the bill I still could not get the light turn on at my new apartment. So what should I do ?