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"I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."
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Sadly, this is the only answer. If he was not in a position to come to an agreement with the electricity people - and older people often aren't, having been raised to obey orders and respect authority - then there are no warning signs for the electricity company.
They cannot know whether the user lives with children and grandchildren who are capable of dealing with this, whether he is short of funds and refusing to pay, whether he needs social care. They are a business after all.
I do feel this is very sad (we have cold weather payments in this country to help the 60+ and higher for the 80+) but it could happen here as well. I'd like to think that our OAPs would at least have daily carers that they could speak to, but tbh my Grandad often only mentions things in passing. Like to Mum - there's wires coming out of my bedside lamp. X (carer) mentioned it the other week. Mum went off her nut - why didn't you TELL me?! You could have been electrocuted! And straight off to Argos to get a new one, all the while blaming herself for not checking every single appliance in Grandad's bungalow on her daily visits.