WEATHERFORD — Residents of Weatherford are up-in-arms about the high price of power from their city-owned utility company.

Rates went up 40 percent after the city switched to electricity generated by natural gas. Weatherford Electric blames power cost adjustment charges, which are necessary to cover the cost of buying natural gas and other fuels.

Angry citizens crowded a meeting of the Weatherford Utility Board at City Hall Friday afternoon to ask questions and to file complaints.

Many are now facing tough decisions about how to allocate their paycheck for the necessities of life: groceries, medicine and power.

"If I'm in a two-income family, and I'm worried about being able to pay my electric bill, what about the disabled who are on a fixed income?" asked Weatheford Electric customer Paige Grassman, whose bill went up $250 in a single month.

"I didn't see Social Security giving anybody a raise this month," Grassman said. "What about the elderly people who are already choosing between medicine and electricity as it is now? What are they going to do?"

Watch for a full report Friday night on News 8 at Six

E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com