As temperatures soar, so do calls for help paying utility bills

By: Nancy Lavin

Outlets: Rhode Island Current

Published: July 6, 2026

Words: 1,300

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 1 day ago

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The George Wiley Center’s voicemail inbox can no longer handle all the after-hours calls from seniors, single-parent families and other residents in danger of losing electricity due to unpaid bills — or already without it.

“People are in crisis,” Camilo Viveiros, executive director for the Pawtucket consumer advocacy group, said in an interview Monday. “At this point, it’s not unusual that we come in the morning and we have 40 messages of folks that have …

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