Twenty-two years ago, Michael Coffman shattered his back in a car accident.

“It wasn’t my fault,” he said. “The lady who hit me, she didn’t have much insurance. I got $35,000 out of the deal — that was before my lawyer got his cut.”

Unable to work, Coffman, 55, now lives on a $756-a-month disability check from Social Security and $63 a month in food stamps.

“Out of that $756, I make a $353 house payment,” he said. “I had to get my truck rebuilt, so I’m paying a $100 a month on that. There’s nothing left over. “

Coffman, who lives in Lecompton, said he feared his natural gas would be shut off next month.

“I’m making payments now on what I owe, but after March 31, if you fall behind, they can cut you off until November,” he said. “That’s how the Cold Weather Rule works.”

He’s not alone. Gas company officials expect to disconnect 276 Lawrence households next week.

“That’s how many we’ve notified,” said Aquila spokesman George Minter.

In Kansas, utility companies are blocked from disconnecting delinquent accounts between Nov. 1 and March 31.

To avoid being shut off March 31, delinquent customers have until then to apply for aid, agree to payment plans or both. Those who don’t are disconnected, usually within a few days.

Carmon Brown and her daughters, Jazzmine, 3, left, and Vannessa, 19 months, are thankful that the Lawrence-based Warm Hearts program paid the utility bill on which she'd fallen behind. The Browns read in their apartment Tuesday as it snowed outside.

“We’re telling everybody to call our office if they’re behind,” Minter said. “They need to get something worked out.”

Payment plans require down payments equal to at least one-twelfth of the amount owed. Those who miss a payment are shut off. To be reconnected, they must pay their full unpaid balance.

Aid is in short supply.

“It’s the service for which there’s the most demand and for which we consistently have the least amount of money,” said Jim Baze, director of planning at East Central Kansas Community Action Program.

In recent months, state officials have distributed more than $230,000 in Low Income Energy Assistance Program funds in Douglas County.

Also, several programs have helped distribute $52,000 raised over the fall and winter through Warm Hearts, a Lawrence-based direct-mail campaign.

Mercury dropping; gas prices climbing (01-17-05) ‘Cold weather rule’ in effect for utilities (11-04-05)

“We try to help as many people as we can, but it seems like there’s never enough,” said Doni Slough, president of Warm Hearts.

It’s not unusual, Slough said, for a low-income family to be $250 behind in utility bills.

“That may not sound like a lot to some people,” she said, “but if you’re living on $1,000 a month, that’s a quarter of your income.”

Warm Hearts assistance is capped at $300 per household.

“We have a lot of people who say they can’t keep up with their bills because they’re on a fixed income, they’ve lost a job or they’ve been sick,” said Linda Lassen, director at Penn House, 1035 Pa. “A lot of them say they’re living in places where they can hear the wind whistling through the windows.”

Warm Hearts helped Carmon Brown, a fast-food worker who recently lost her job.

“I’m a single mom trying to make it with two kids,” she said. “I got fired because of baby-sitting issues I couldn’t do anything about, so now I’m looking for another job.”

Brown, who lives in an apartment near 22nd Street and Kasold Drive, said she was $122 behind on her Aquila bill.

At the ECKAN office in Lawrence, director Jeanette Collier said she expects dozens of Lawrence residents to lose their utilities in the next few weeks.

“We see families all the time who are living with no water, no electricity, no gas,” she said. “As a society, we like to look at this and blame it on mismanagement — ‘These people don’t know how to handle money.’ But I’ve worked with a lot of these people and it usually comes down to not enough money coming in, and they have to chose between rent and utilities or food and utilities. What are they supposed to do?”