Pay Your Bill On Time

The doorbell rang today about noon. I looked outside, didn’t see anyone, but went down anyway. There was a guy there with a jacket that had our electrical company’s logo on it.

Him: “Hi, I’m from IREA. I’m here to turn your power off because of an unpaid bill.”

Me: “Uh”  I’m really calm under pressure. Witty, too.

Him: “If you want to call in and take care of it, I’ll wander around the yard for a few minute.”

Me: “OK, I’ll call now.”

Actually what I did was go find Tia, who said she’d scheduled the payment, but it wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. I’m in the dark on bills, so I called the company, complained that I hadn’t gotten a notice or a call, and was politely told I could pay the past due amount along with a $20 tip charge for the guy wandering around my yard with my dog, and a $2.95 convenience fee or he could turn off my power and I could pay the same amount whenever I felt like it.

I love being free in America with choices.

I choose to pay over the phone, gave her the CC stuff, and she said she’d call the dispatcher so the guy could leave my yard. At least with the check arriving at IREA tomorrow we won’t have to deal with this for a couple of months.

My guess is some mail got dropped somewhere in the house and we didn’t notice a final notice somewhere. After a hectic first quarter of work, I thought Tia and I were getting a handle on things. Maybe not.