Many utility providers offer lower-income households a payment accounting option known as "budget billing." When a household earns an income level below such a utility company's given budget billing threshold, it can request the option to fix its monthly obligation to that utility company at a set cost.
For example, if a household in Minnesota with gas heating qualifies for its gas utility company's budget billing option, then that household can reduce its January obligation to the company from, say, 150 dollars to, say, fifty dollars. In exchange for that break in January, however, the household agrees to pay fifty dollars every month out of the year -- even during the months when their gas obligation may be as low as thirty dollars. In this manner, the gas utility recoups the amounts of money that were underpaid for its service during the household's peak usage periods.
Interested households that aren't sure whether or not they would qualify for such programs should at least inquire personally with their utility providers about eligibility. Given the current state of the economy, a utility company may be willing to work something out with a household, even if its printed material and web information say otherwise.