Officials at several Vermont electric utilities say more people are falling behind on their bills.
The officials say the price of electricity isn’t going up so they blame the increase in late payments on the downturn in the economy and high energy prices.
Avram Patt of the Washington Electric Cooperative says people 60 to 90 days behind are up 30 percent.
Patt says people are under pressure to pay their heating bills, some of which are twice what they were.
The number of customers having their power turned off hasn’t gone up significantly, but the officials say that will likely increase.