Its no surprise that when the temperatures dip, utility bills soar, but some Quincy residents think it's gone too far.

"We've seen these bills go up, up, up, and now they're away. And when I say away, that means they're totally ridiculous," says Janice Francis, a Quincy resident.

Janice isn't alone. Folks came out to protest these high rates Tuesday night but many don't see an end in sight.

"We can understand that we must pay our share, we're not trying to get out of what we use, but what we're saying is what we use is not compatible to what everybody else is paying," Janice adds.

The city seems to be taking the brunt of it all, but they're not the ones who set these rates.

The city purchases energy from Progress Energy and the Southeastern Power Administration, and when the companies raised their rates 72 percent over the last year, the city was forced to start passing that cost on to customers.

"The effect of that rate increase and the low temperatures kind of magnified that for everyone so they're reacting to it. I mean it's a democratic process people going to their government running a utility, that's understandable but this has been a problem, an issue that we've know about for some time," says Quincy City Manager Jack McLean.

The city of Quincy used to pay between 500 and 600 thousand dollars to the energy companies, they now have to pay over a million.

The city does do free energy audits, and they encourage residents to get these done. They also will work with folks on an individual basis to assist them with paying their monthly bills.

The rates from SEPA will be in effect for at least another two or three years.