WOMAN SWEATS OUT SUMMER IN ELECTRICITY DISPUTE.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LITTLEROCK - A Littlerock woman has been using candles for light and an ice chest to keep her food cool during two weeks in which temperatures topped 100 degrees almost daily.

Pauline Valdez is living without electricity because a former tenant who lived in her home disappeared owing a $500 electrical bill, and Southern California Edison officials refuse to believe that Valdez or her stepdaughter weren't living in the home while the bill was run up.

``I have all the other utilities but without electricity it's so very hot,'' said Valdez, a 47-year-old widow. ``I water the house down - the front yard and that - to try to cool off. I have to go get food every day because my ice chest isn't big enough.''

Valdez, who rented out the home last year after her husband died, has retained an attorney to try to get her electricity turned on.

The attorney has sent Edison a rental agreement and a copy of a Social Security letter mailed to Wilmington, Calif., where Valdez was staying with her sister-in-law while the Littlerock home was rented.

``We have sent them everything they would need to prove that Mrs. Valdez was not living in the home,'' said Berlina Kredo, an assistant to Sue Ann Howard, the Lancaster attorney handling Valdez's case. ``Most people don't need nearly that much just to have service established.''

A Southern California Edison spokesman said Valdez or her stepdaughter shared the Avenue T-2 home with the renter, making Valdez liable for the $500 past-due bill.

``Sometimes customers have this scheme where they run up the bill and then change the name so they don't have to pay the bill,'' said Tom Boyd, a spokesman for SCE. ``There are agencies that help them when they need to pay these things, but playing musical names on the account isn't right. These people are being disingenuous about who lives there.''

Valdez said neither she nor her stepdaughter lived in the house while it was rented out. The renter, who moved owing money toValdez as well as Edison, might have found paperwork with Valdez's Social Security number and tried to establish an Edison account in Valdez's name, Kredo said.

After her husband died in July 1998, Valdez said, she rented the home to a woman with two children. Valdez said she had intended to walk away from the home and let the bank take it over, but her stepdaughter persuaded her to rent it out.

The tenant paid the rent on time for a few months, Valdez said, and later payment became erratic and then stopped. Valdez said she listed the home for sale, but the agent told her the tenant would not allow him to show it. Valdez eventually told the woman to move out, and Valdez moved back in July 23.

``When Pauline rented the house, she left some personal items, including legal paperwork locked in a garage area,'' said Kredo. ``When she moved back into the home, she found that her paperwork had been gone through, and (she) still hasn't been able to find her birth certificate.''

Howard has sent for a credit report to determine whether it shows any debts Valdez didn't incur.

Valdez paid off the tenant's water bill but couldn't afford the electrical bill, Kredo said.

Howard is waiting for Edison's legal department to say what additional information might be needed to prove that neither Valdez nor her stepdaughter was living at the residence when the bill was run up. If the service is not established, Valdez expects to take legal action.

``We have the real estate agent who has offered to speak with the legal department to explain that he had only seen the tenant and her children at the property,'' said Kredo, ``and we have the sister-in-law Pauline stayed with, who also offered to vouch for her.''