CAMDEN, S.C. — On Wednesday afternoon, Camden residents took to the streets to voice their concerns over the high electric bills they have been receiving recently.
Charlene Brooks is a resident in Camden who says her electric bill is higher than the mortgage on her home.
"See there, it says payment due, and as you can see, I'm already behind," Brooks said pointing to the billing statement on her phone. "That's $1,207 that I've got to pay by the 30th."
Brooks lives with her two daughters and says it is upsetting having to pay so much.
"It's unbearable. I'm working two jobs to keep up," Brooks said. "I work at Blue Cross during the day and Lowe's at night, and it's just not manageable for my family."
Charlene, along with hundreds of other Camden residents, have been complaining since they started seeing these bill increases in July.
Several of these people met on the Town Green then marched to City Hall to stand on the front steps and voice their concerns and demand action from city council.
The protest comes after the City of Camden contracted with Carolina Power Partners back in 2021. This summer, the city approved electricity increases, which they suspended in July, however, several people's bills still spiked.
The protest group put out fliers to let everyone know about the march to City Hall. The flier listed their demands saying they wanted "more transparency into how the city electrical department operates, insight into how the decision was reached to hire Carolina Power Partners as the city's new energy provider, and they wanted reassurance that their city government hears them."
Although residents stood on the steps of City Hall, the only person from the city that came outside to listen, was City Manager Jonathan Rorie.
Rorie gave a statement about the electric bills saying, "We don't produce power. We provide power, therefore we have to purchase the power. We can't sell the power for cheaper than it costs us to purchase it, so we have to sell it at a minimum to break even. If you sell it lower than what it costs you to buy it then the utility cannot operate."
Rorie also explained that the pricing fluctuates with the cost of natural gas. He says Camden is looking to re-evaluate a base rate increase in January of 2023.
Residents say they will continue showing up and speaking out until they see change.
The next Camden City Council meeting will be on November 22 at 4:00 p.m.