A coworker of mine used to work for a call center for georgia power. This is sad, but there are a ton of people that claim they have an oxygen pump, babies, etc to avoid having their power cut off because they haven't paid the bill for months. Out of 2000 people claiming such things maybe 10-20 actually have a real problem that requires it to stay on. Since there is no way to tell without visiting the residence, they have to cut it off or else no one would pay their bill. Or they can get a notarized letter from a doctor to prevent it. I'm suprised this doesn't happen more often.