They've been doing that to victims of hurricanes and tropical storms for a long time now. So many areas in the gulf coast, they have deregulated and privatized utilities. I am lucky now to live in a small town that hasn't done this with the water supply, and it's affordable. But they did privatize the power supply and you end up having to pay through the roof for your electricity bill. They recently installed these new boxes that completely shut off power within a minute of being late on your payment.