GRIFFIN, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Owners of cell phones and electric vehicles get anxiety when they see their batteries drop to three percent.
For Tina Marsden – who has a pump attached to her heart – it’s a matter of life or death.
Marsden has a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). When its batteries drain after 12 hours, “my pump’s going to stop, and then my heart can stop,” she said.
Because Marsden’s heart condition has left her disabled, she often has trouble paying all her bills on time.
“I can come home with a new prescription, and then, all of a sudden, I can’t afford this prescription,” Marsden said. “So I have to decide between paying a light bill or paying part of a light bill, to be able to get maybe a 15-day supply and not a 30-day supply of a prescription.”
Marsden has Griffin Power, one of nearly 50 city-owned electric utilities in Georgia. City power utilities, along with 41 electric membership cooperatives (EMCs), city power utilities are not regulated by the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Cities and EMCs are not required to provide any grace period for life support customers before turning off their electricity.
Georgia Power is required to provide an extra 30 days for customers dependent on medical equipment. Griffin Power provides a single day beyond the seven-day grace period all customers get after their bill’s due date.
Because cities like Griffin combine electricity, garbage and water charges into a single bill, a customer unable to pay for trash collection will get their power disconnected. That has happened to Marsden at least four times.
Collections call in an ambulance
Atlanta News First Investigates obtained more than three dozen recordings the city of Griffin made during customer service and collections calls with Marsden.
One call on April 4, 2019, came from the city’s collections manager while Marsden was in an ambulance. The recording picked up the sound of the siren.
“It’s just a bad time right now because I’m literally in the back of an ambulance being transported to Atlanta Piedmont, and I told them I have to have power because I have a life-sustaining medical equipment,” Marsden told the collections manager over the phone.
“Okay, well, this account has until six o’clock today to be paid,” the collection’s manager replied.
Marsden responded, “Until when? I’m in the ambulance. Can you say that again? The sirens are on.”
“The account has until six o’clock today to be paid or it starts coming up on the cutoff list tomorrow,” the collections’ manager said. “You’ve run out of your seven days.”
One extra day
Marsden appealed to the Griffin City Commission in 2021 to create a policy for late payments for life-support customers. While she waited to speak, her heart started racing. Marsden’s defibrillator shocked her heart in the city commission chambers.
Once EMTs in attendance cleared her, Marsden spoke to the commission. The commission agreed to a special grace period for customers dependent on electricity to live: one extra day.
“[Everyone gets] a seven-day grace period to pay your bill,” Marsden said. “If you need power to live, you get one additional day.”
MORE FROM CHIEF INVESTIGATOR BRENDAN KEEFE
Atlanta News First Investigates asked Mayor Douglas Hollberg for comment or an interview before a recent city commission meeting. Initially, the mayor said he couldn’t comment because of “pending litigation.” He then deferred to the city attorney, who replied just before the meeting started, “No comment.”
New legislation
House Bill 641, introduced by state Rep. Marvin Lim, D-Norcross, would eliminate the disparity between the state requirements on Georgia Power and the unregulated city or cooperative-owned electric suppliers.
“This bill will give all Georgians the same protection that Georgia Power customers have, which is that 30-day extension, and then they can apply for an additional 30 days,” Marsden said. “So a total of 60-day extension if they need power to live.”
Lim introduced the bill after meeting Marsden at an American Heart Association event earlier this year.
HB 641 was introduced shortly before crossover day this year, when bills have to pass the House or Senate to cross over to the other chamber. It was introduced too late to get a hearing in the Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications committee
Because Georgia General Assembly sessions span two years, the bill has a chance to be taken up again in 2026.
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