They shut off the power, and turn it back on when you pay the bill. They may hire a collection agency to collect their money, or place a lien on the property until the bill is paid, but that's rare.

It would probably affect your credit score, too.

They may charge you for turning it on again.

Where I live, the electric company may not turn off the power during the colder months. They may turn it off in the summer, though, and are under no obligation to turn it back on until the past due balance is paid. A few years ago one man and his 18-year-old son died from carbon monoxide poisoning from the generator they used to provide power. The power had been turned off six months before, in June or July. Just to highlight the lack of common sense, here, running a gas generator for lights and heat is far more expensive than simply paying for electricity.

I'd guess the guy running the generator couldn't afford to pay whatever he owed the power company in overdue bills. In most cases, the power company won't turn the power back on unless you pay all of the arrears. Let's say he owed a grand and could come up with a generator for $500. He's got power today and that's all he's likely to be concerned with.

Power that killed him. Now the man and his son do not need to worry about having lights.

Mike, I'm certain that's true. He was known locally as "a friend of the bar" down at the local watering hole. His peers there collected money to help pay for his funeral. It would seem that his financial problems didn't impact his entertainment budget.

I'm in Canada, particularly Ontario and it's a common misconception here that they can't shut off your power in winter months. But they can. Call them and set up a payment plan. Something is always better than nothing and if you make an effort, they can see that. So many people prefer to ignore their bills instead of calling the company. A few examples:

We're having a bad month. I forgot to pay the rest of my cell phone bill so I called the provider and let them know I would pay it today. And I did. There was no lecture but instead she said, "Thank you for calling us and letting us know."

When we were building our house, our furnace wasn't hooked up yet so after the drywall was done we had to keep the house heated. We set up multiple electric heaters. I got an over $900 hydro bill. Although I paid what I could, when I could, I couldn't keep up. I called them and they put me on a payment plan for a year which just adds a bit of that amount on to every bill. It's way more manageable.

Other companies are great. Our propane company is not corporate owned. Again, the costs of installation were high. I called to tell them when I would be making another payment as I was behind. The lady was really nice and said to me, "We understand that the initial costs are high. As long as we see that you are paying it down, you won't have any issues." It took me maybe 2 months but I got it cleared.

You need to call and see what they can do to help you. Ignoring it is never the answer. And consider moving. I'm not sure if that's an option for you but lots of people here live in apartments with baseboards and then wonder why their bills are so high. Baseboards and oil are terrible. Natural gas, propane and pellet stoves are much, much cheaper. I've been there. My first year of college my husband and I were basically living in one room of our apartment with a space heater because we couldn't afford to heat the entire place. We are obviously a lot better off now having just built our first home. Even now, we live in the dark 75% of the time. Not because we can't afford it but rather why pay for it when you don't need/use it? We have beautiful outdoor lights and never turn them on. The inside of our house is dark aside from the room we are spending time in. We don't unnecessarily run our furnace or AC. We take advantage of the sun, open windows etc.

As for legal repercussions, they aren't just going to write the debt off. They WILL come after you regardless of whether it's off or not. How they might do that, I'm really not sure.

Another consequence might be that if the wiring system is rather old, the power company may require that it be inspected, possibly requiring replacement of part or even the entire wiring system.

ole joyful ... whose personal wiring system is rather old