San Diego Gas & Electric shut off power to almost 9,000 customers during a three-month period in 2016, according to documents supplied by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
Those customers did not pay their bills and documents obtained by NBC 7 reveal that it's a growing problem, state-wide.
Disconnects at SDG&E, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) have been trending up since 2012, according to CPUC documents. Service disruptions for non-payment are less of a problem for customers of Southern California Gas.
The National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition says the disconnects are a sign of a fragile economy, for the poor and middle class.
President Donald Trump's 2018 budget also deleted a program that helps the poorest Americans pay their energy bills.
Congress could restore the "Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program," but has not done so yet.
SDG&E confirmed that 40,067 customers had their service disconnected last year due to non-payment. The company said that is less than three percent of its 1.3 million residential customers. SDG&E also confirmed that its disconnect rate has increased by .54 percent since 2014, but noted that its customer base has grown by approximately four percent in that time period.
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The company noted that 89 percent of disconnected customers eventually had their service restored.
SDG&E told NBC 7 that it, "work(s) with customers one-on-one and at length" to avoid shut-offs for non-payment, and "…will only disconnect service after all avenues of resolution have been exhausted."
