I made more than that working in a factory in 2006.

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“You think I’m a joke” - Centralia

Stay away from PA, please. There are already enough nut jobs like you to contend with in the state. Lots of room in Texas or Florida for someone with your education level. Thanks.

PA is full. Please keep driving south.as mentioned, Florida is for you. I've lived in both and am currently trying to keep PA reasonable.

When the stock market was up, the legislature figured there was no need to contribute more. When the market was down, they claimed they couldn’t afford it. Meanwhile, the employees kept paying their share the whole time.

Lol no one preferred Kansas.

If you’re really looking for an honest answer to any of these questions you should know Reddit is not the place for it, it’s a liberal hive mind. I’ve lived in Nepa my entire life. We have our home on five acres with solar, garden beds, chickens, fruit trees, water storage etc. Many of my neighbors and local community are also into alot of the same self sustainable lifestyle. I also live in Lackawanna county which is very blue, thankfully this mindset is not a liberal/ conservative issue. The vaccine culture here is very much a personal choice and the crime outside cities is very low, we also have a great state for hunting game and a decent 2A community if you’re into those as well.

Does this include the pollution that discarded solar panels cause? If they end up in landfill, do they cause water pollution?

$1200 per month is $14,400 for the year. That's virtually nothing these days. Better to keep it on the downlow. Also, makes obtaining benefits much easier.

CPA, etc is overkill for what amounts to doing some small odd jobs verses running an actual business. Don't get me wrong, you're technically correct, but not readily practical for the guy's situation.

>They still have to work 35 years

So if someone becomes a teacher at 24 they have to work until they're 59?

Oh no! Anyway.

Maybe the state should get out of the pension business. People who are in it now get it, everyone else gets a 401k like the rest of us.

Might be the fact that they are inbred..

LiHEAP

LiHEAP

LiHEAP

It's tied into Compass, you can apply for it with SNAP and Medical Assistance via the popular PA portal. If you're unfamiliar with it just head over to https://www.compass.state.pa.us/. It's straight up the easiest energy assistance program I've encountered.

In addition to that: Please call and ask about payment payment plans. My electricity was astronomical a year or two ago. Didn't have steady employment and I was letting it rack up in the hopes I could pay the whole thing down the line. They killed the power and I called that afternoon and had it back on in 30 seconds after setting up a basic payment plan.

The way it works is they split what you owe over several months over what you're accruing normally so your bill will be higher but manageable now.

Example: if you're monthly bill averages $1, say. After a while you owe $5 and they shut off the power. If you call and literally just say the words "Payment Plan" they say "Okay, you'll pay us $1/month on the plan". Now you owe $2 a month until you pay it off. I know this isn't crazy hard to understand but it is nice you still have the option after "the point of no return" so-to-speak.

If you miss one of those payment plans they will shut it off again so start finding a way to prioritize it from then on.

>Prohibit collecting a pension while still working

What does that fix?

Fortunately, it's been a mild winter in much of PA and Spring is nearly here. As others mentioned, there are various programs to assist paying current and past due bills. Some hoops to jump through and not all qualify, but it's something.

Utility rates are increasing far faster than most incomes. Eventually rates should moderate and likely even fall somewhat. It's happened before. PA has a diverse energy mix and many connections to other energy sources (power lines, gas lines, etc). Not all places are as fortunate. For example, energy rates in California are often multiples higher.

If you need some cash fast, temporary employment agencies are always hiring. Also, big box stores and supermarkets for stocking (often overnight / early AM with stable hours) and picking orders for curbside pickup and delivery (day shift, but hours may be more fluid).

Regulations for how utilities do shutoffs is unlikely to change much despite more struggling. Not saying it won't happen eventually, but unless delinquencies greatly increase and/or there's a large public outcry, politicians will likely do little more than make some public statements saying they're "looking into it" and whatnot.

Finally, the distribution cost (the part one can't shop rates for) is greatly increasing too. PUC allows Weather Normalization Adjustment (ie. in my case, for gas; how it's calculated is seemingly a mystery and not transparent) and System Improvement Surcharge (ie. in my case, 5% for electric) to be added. Adds up and there's little one can do. PUC should do more to help consumers.

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Yes. They are even starting to outpace Dollar Stores.

Why the hostility? Because conservatives aren’t popular with young people. Reddit is overwhelmingly young and liberal. And you came right out and brought the tyranny and COVID nonsense front and center while also lacking the awareness that Pa is going the same route as NY. Governor and state house are held by democrats while the GOP voters die off and young voters flock to the Democratic Party. Maybe try Texas or florida if you enjoy the freedom of government officials banning books and destroying the lives of lgbtq kids.

No. You got it shut off in the summer when the bills were low and you had months to pay it and didn’t. Priorities.

That’s correct. If it was already off, they do not turn it on for the winter.

Lol OPs post history is wild

His family and Doctor already are aware.

“Stand up against tyranny” aka be duped by misinformation into believing false election lies, masks don’t work, and that anti-parasite drugs are useful for COVID. You’re still mad about lockdowns 3 years later? Please don’t come here as we have enough morons already. Do you even know pa is blue? Dems took governor and the state house. What will you do in 2 years when they take the senate and have full control? “Tyranny” will run rampant!

Thank you kindly for the info! :)