Vicksburg natural gas customers will be allowed more time to pay bills that have soared as temperatures have dropped over the past month, officials said. Separately, the Vicksburg office of a federal assistance program said it has turned away no qualified applicant for help with covering utility bills.

At the city’s Water & Gas Administration, the maximum grace period for paying bills has been extended from seven to 15 days after the &#8220cut-off date” appearing on monthly bills, provided the customer makes a minimum payment within a week, director Tammye Christmas said.

The minimum payment must be at least half the amount owed or the customer’s peak amount billed from last year, whichever is greater. The balance must be paid within the 15-day grace period.

&#8220I welcome anybody to come in” and discuss payment arrangements if necessary,” Christmas said. &#8220As long as they keep those arrangements we’ll work with them.” Water & Gas offices are at 2111 Drummond St.

Christmas said the water and gas administration has seen an increase in people requesting re-readings of their meters, most of which are read remotely using electronic-sensor devices. All re-readings have confirmed the initial readings, she said.

People whose gas service is cut off must pay a reconnection fee of $8, and it jumps to $12 if water service must also be reconnected.

Meanwhile, Jim Stirgus Jr., the county coordinator of the agency that administers the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, said his phone &#8220has been hot” since natural gas prices jumped four times beginning in October.

Natural gas is about twice as expensive this year as last. In addition to that increase in the market price, city gas customers have been hit this year by a move by the city government to put the government’s gas business on a self-supporting footing. The results have been exacerbated over the past month as nighttime temperatures have dropped into the 30s.

The price of electricity has also risen as Entergy has raised its rates. Much of the company’s generating capacity is fueled by natural gas, and the rates it pays for that gas are about double those of this time last year and up 65 percent since Aug. 1, Vicksburg customer service manager Don Arnold said.

Stirgus told about the low-income assistance, available through the Warren Washington Issaquena Sharkey Community Action Agency at 2022 Cherry St.

He said the program is designed to pay up to 100 percent of a low-income person’s gas or electric bill when necessary.

People qualify for such help based on a scale based on factors including family size and number of children, Stirgus said. People who would like to find out whether they qualify for help under the program may call Stirgus at 601-638-2874, he said.

LIHEAP is funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program’s funding level has not been increased since 1992 but WWISCAA has yet to turn away anyone who has qualified for and sought help this year, Stirgus said.

&#8220I hope funds will continue to be available,” Stirgus said.

Stirgus said WWISCAA also administers a separate federally funded program that can help pay the costs of weatherizing homes. People who receive help from WWISCAA are required to attend an orientation session. The agency also makes house calls, he said.

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said he expects WWISCAA to have people apply for help that the agency &#8220never thought they would see” and who &#8220never would’ve dreamt they would’ve had to go to a social-service agency.”

A main reason, Mayfield said, is that people were caught off-guard by the price spike. He said the city board &#8220could have and should have done a much better job” of preparing the public for the crisis.

The city board has voted to raise gas rates for its customers four times in four months, and Mayfield has voted against those raises.

Strategic planner Paul Rogers makes the city’s gas-purchasing decisions. Vicksburg’s government is unusual if not unique among Mississippi local governments in that it both owns its own gas business and purchases gas on a futures market, &#8220hedging” with the goal of reducing costs. Rogers has succeeded in that goal and Mayor Laurence Leyens pointed out that because of that success Vicksburg gas rates are &#8220still 25 percent lower than (those of) Jackson.”

&#8220We’re going to work with people the best we can,” Leyens said, adding that &#8220we can’t forgive bills.”

He also said the increases in gas rates were well-publicized after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which struck and damaged gas-producing and -distributing areas of the Gulf Coast beginning Aug. 29.

Utilities may make more level seasonal rises and drops in amounts billed and Entergy offers its customers that option for electricity. Leyens, who said he has ordered all city thermostats set at 65 or lower, said the city has considered and rejected putting such an option in place for city gas customers. Rogers said one reason is the city would have to borrow millions of dollars to get the plan started.

Mayfield said, however, that the option of a level-payment plan must remain on the table.

&#8220We’re still looking at that as one of the options we’re exploring at this time,” Mayfield said. &#8220A lot of people have been very seriously hurt by this. People just weren’t prepared.”

Rogers also said one of the options available to the city board for customers who have not paid their bills and are subject to having their service cut off just prior to holidays or when the weather is freezing or forecast to be freezing is to delay cutting off their service.

Meanwhile, Warren County District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, whose district lies completely within the city limits, said he would propose to the board of supervisors that it allocate part of its gaming-tax revenue to subsidize gas bills for city customers.