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Jerica Roush's power was shut off Wednesday, the second time in the past month her home went dark.

The 19-year-old, a dancer at Oasis Cabaret gentlemen's club in Adams County, Denver, said the sinking economy has drastically cut her wages, making it harder to pay the bills.

Even amid lower energy prices, more Coloradans are struggling to pay their utility bills this heating season.

Xcel Energy, the state's largest electric and natural-gas utility, shut off 8,526 residential customers for delinquent bills in November, up 117 percent from 3,930 in November 2007, according to spokesman Joe Fuentes.

So far this year, shut-offs have increased by 32 percent.

"It's the economy, the wintertime, Christmas, everything," Roush said Wednesday afternoon while applying for financial assistance from the state Low-income Energy Assistance Program.

This week, she made $18 for a day's worth of work. She used to make $100 a day.

"Not as many people are coming in," she said.

Previous bills pile up

LEAP approved about 29,000 financial-aid requests from Nov. 1 through Friday, up 25 percent from the same period in 2007, said Todd Jorgen sen, Colorado LEAP director.

"There's probably a variety of factors, but most generally, it's the economy," Jorgensen said.

The surge in shut-offs and requests for aid comes as utility bills are expected to be 10 percent lower than a year ago for the heating season from November to April, said Skip Arnold, executive director of Energy Outreach Colorado, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for energy assistance.

"What's happening is the large bills we've seen over the last few years are finally reaching a point where the balances are just higher because people . . . can't pay the full bill, and so it continues to mount," he said.

Xcel can turn the power off on customers after they are 30 days behind. But the company usually gives customers several warnings and up to 90 days to arrange a payment plan before disconnecting them.

Roush has a 1-year-old daughter and lives with her sister-in-law, Jennifer Martinez, who is unemployed and has two children of her own.

Aid fund has more to give

She said her Xcel bill grew to $900 in November, when the utility cut her electricity the first time. She made a $100 payment the same day to have the power restored.

She sought help Wednesday after receiving a notice that her electricity would be cut off again if she didn't pay her bill in full. While at the LEAP office, she found out Xcel had already cut the power.

Jamie Glennon, a spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Human Services, said Roush was granted $350 in aid from LEAP, which will go directly to Xcel, and her power was restored later Wednesday.

LEAP received $62 million in federal funding this year, up from about $30 million a year ago. As such, the program raised the minimum aid it provides to qualified residents to $350 from $200 a year ago. The maximum aid increased to $900 from $700. To qualify, an applicant has to earn less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that comes to about $3,300 a month.