My next meal was always a guaranteed thing, yet I've experienced rent, power, insurance, gas bills coming in at the same time that have left me hoping that somebody doesn't deposit that check for a few days.
It is a snowball and it only takes an event or two to begin rolling down hill much faster than you can.
The easy solution is on social security pay day, pay your current bill with the late fee and sign up thus eliminating all future late fees from this electric corporation. Out of the more than 34,000 eligible accounts less than 1,600 signed up. That is probably partially because the program was not well known and the misconception that a party would have to pay 2 months electric bill at one time to subscribe. I helped a number of people sign up but some people just are too nervous to give the electric company the right to auto draft on their social security pay date. Whoever failed to sign up will pay an extra $8-12 a month I would guess.