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Press "0" To Speak With a Human Being

It used to work. You pressed zero, a person answered. Now utilities have turned that simple act into a bureaucratic obstacle course — and for seniors and the disabled, it isn't just frustrating. It can be fatal.

Remember when "press zero for a representative" actually meant something? You had a problem, you pressed a button, a human being answered. The system worked because it was designed to work. What happened?

Somewhere along the line, the utilities figured out that every call handled by a machine is a call that doesn't cost them anything. So they built mazes. They built walls of menus, loops of automated prompts, and systems designed not to help you — but to exhaust you into hanging up. The industry has a word for it. They call it "deflection." I call it a firewall.

"They call it deflection. I call it a firewall — and it's costing lives."

Now let me be clear about something: I am all for AI. I use it throughout my day. It has genuinely boosted my productivity in ways I couldn't have imagined five years ago. This is not an anti-technology rant. This is a call for basic human decency.

Because there are things that require a human being's attention. A gas leak is one of them. A power outage during a cold snap is another. A diabetic senior who just lost electricity and can't figure out the automated outage menu — that's not an inconvenience. That is a potential death.

Consider who these systems fail hardest: Seniors navigating voice menus that don't recognize their speech. Disabled customers who can't engage with touch-tone automation. Anyone in a genuine emergency who doesn't have time for four levels of menu options before being told to "visit our website."

The utilities know this. They've done the studies. They have the data. And they've decided that the cost savings from automated call deflection outweigh the human cost. That's the calculation they've made, and nobody has made them answer for it.

Until now.

I filed a rulemaking petition with the Florida Public Service Commission targeting exactly this problem. The petition demands meaningful access protections — the right to reach a live human being when the stakes are high enough to demand one. Not after twenty minutes of robot purgatory. Not after three transferred calls. Now.

FLORIDA PSC — ACTIVE DOCKET

Rulemaking petition filed with the Florida Public Service Commission requiring utility customer service systems to provide meaningful, accessible pathways to live human representatives — with special protections for emergencies, seniors, and disabled customers.

Docket No. 20260072 it’s live and it’s when citizen rights beat the utility lobby hands down!

You can follow it right there — in real time, as it moves through the process. And here's what I want you to understand about this: a little effort and a working knowledge of your state's administrative rules can move mountains. A single citizen, one petition, and suddenly there's a docket number and a public record that utilities have to respond to.

This is how it gets done. Not by waiting for a politician to care enough, not by hoping some regulator wakes up on the right side of the bed. You learn the rules, you file the paperwork, and you make them answer you in writing, on the record, in public.

"One petition. One docket number. Now they have to answer — in writing, on the record, in public."

Stay tuned. This is just the first layer. There are more coming.

Kerry Lutz is host and founder of Financial Survival Network and America's Top Recovering Attorney. He has been fighting for consumer rights for over four decades.

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