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Electric co. turns off drive-in power
posted by
danpetitpas
on
November 12, 2008 at 10:47 am
NORTHUMBERLAND, PA — Because the Point Drive-In Theatre was 10 days late in paying its $310 electric bill, the utility cut off its power for the weekend, costing the owner $3,000 in business.
For the last eight years, the drive-in has run a horror movie marathon on weekends in October. On Friday, October 24th, PPL Electric Utilities cut off the power, and despite the owner paying the bill that day, the electric company refused to restore power until the following week.
The owner claims he never received a shut-off notice and no one had tried to called him about the bill.
The power was turned back on in time for Halloween weekend.
Read more in The Daily Item.
Comments (7)
Big business at its best. Always bullying the little guy.
What a crying shame. Perhaps investing in a portable generator would help in future?
I would post a bold print sign in the Box Office “All employee’s of PPL are NOT welcome at this cinema!”
Oh, geesh!! What a drag. One would think that the Electric company would be more flexible and restore the power to the theatre that day, since the owner paid the bill. That’s pretty nasty of them not to.
I don’t believe the electric company was being nasty. They have a schedule for service calls and I doubt that it could be changed that quickly. If it was an emergency, that’s different, but if you want a reconnect you get in line. Think about it, why would the utility not want electricity sales? On the other hand, the theater owner should have received a shut-off notice. If not, that’s a problem with the utility. And only 10 days late with the payment? I suspect the theater owner is chronically late with his payment.
You could be right Scott, but in these trying times, I know I am always late with my electric bill, they threaten after maybe 45 to 60 days to turn me off, but never after 10.
You both have a point, Scott and movie534. On the one hand, if the theatre owner was really arrears on his utility bills, and the electric company, for whatever reason(s) failed to issue a warning of an impending shut-off, then they were either negligent or unethical, and that shutting the utilities down abruptly after only ten days was too harsh. If, on the other hand, it was an emergency, well, that can be a different story sometimes. Stuff like that can and does happen. If, on the other hand, the electric company had others to deal with prior to the movie theatre owner’s paying up the bill, well, unfortunately, the theatre owner would end up having to wait his turn. In any case, I’m glad to hear that the theatre owner paid his electric bill and got the power in his theatre restored.
Yes MPol, I agree.