Has it always been the policy of utility companies to turn off your?
No. It never has been a policy. For customers who miss paying a bill, the utilitys policy is to send a notice reminding the customer of a missed payment. Unpaid balances are then added to the next bill and may include a financing fee of some sort. For customers who consistently refuse to pay, the utility would send several notices that service will be discontinued unless payment is received. Finally, the utility would send a service rep to investigate the customer to determine if there are special circumstances to consider before actually pulling their electric meter and interrupting service.