Poor people need power supply: Greens A SA welfare group wants to take power to cut off a household's power out of energy companies hands. THE Australian Greens will take up a campaign to stop struggling families having their electricity and gas supplies cut off. The South Australian Council of Social Service has floated the idea to have an independent body review such decisions. It says no households should be left without power simply because they can't pay the bill and suggests they should still get a limited supply. "Families can't survive without gas and electricity, but currently there's no safety net in place if they aren't able to pay their bills on time," Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said on Wednesday. The families that are most affected by these shut-offs are those on low incomes. SACOSS executive director Ross Womersley said 10,000 South Australians had their power cut off each year, most of them because they simply did not have the money to pay.