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INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER MATT FLENER EXPLAINS. REPORTER: IT’S THE MIDDLE OF WINTER. >> WE DON’T HAVE ANY LIGHTS ON. REPORTER: RONNIE HARDMAN HAS NO POWER. >> LOOK AT ALL THIS FOOD WE GOT TO THROW AWAY. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. REPORTER: HE LIVES IN THE COLONY WOODS APARTMENTS OWNED BY AN AFFILIATE OF T.E.H. REALTY. TONIGHT THE BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES SAYS T.E.H. REALTY IS THREE MONTHS AND $31,000 BEHIND ON PAYING FOR ELECTRICITY. A SPOKESMAN SAYING THE UTLITY WON’T TURN BACK ON POWER, UNTIL IT GETS PAYMENT. COLONY WOODS RESIDENTS LIKE ALFONSO GAVE A $125 MONEY ORDER TO THE LEASING OFFICE FOR T.E.H. EARLIER THIS MONTH TO PAY FOR ELECTRICITY. BUT LIKE MOST EVERYONE ELSE, HE HAS NO IDEA WHERE THAT MONEY WENT. AND NEEDS A WAY TO STAY WARM. >> HE NEEDS MUCHO BLANKETS. IT’S COLD. >> YOU NEED A LOT OF BLANKETS. YEAH. REPORTER: RIGHT NOW THERE’S NO CERTAINTY WHEN THE ELECTRICITY IS GOING TO GET TURNED ON HERE AGAIN AT COLONY WOODS APARTMENTS, BUT WITH THE TEMPERATURES REACHING INTO THE TEENS OVERNIGHT, PUBLIC OFFICIALS ABSOLUTELY NEED TO BE AWARE OF THIS SITUATION. IN KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, MATT FLENER, KMBC 9 NEWS. KRIS: A BPU SPOKESMAN DECLINED AN ON-CAMERA INTERVIEW T

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The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities turned off power to most of the 98 units at the Colony Woods apartments this week after the apartment's owner, an affiliate of TEH Realty, did not pay a $31,423.32 utility bill.The company is three months behind on payment, according to a BPU spokesman, David Mehlhaff.Residents at the apartments have started wondering if someone with TEH Realty stole utility money they paid directly to company along with their rent."I bet you they go home with their lights on," said Ronnie Hardman, a Colony Woods resident. "But just cause we’re over here, we got to live like slums?"The lack of electricity is the latest struggle for residents living in apartments owned by a series of LLCs run by Israeli-based investors with TEH Realty. Those investors and managers are now facing federal investigations for unsafe living conditions at 11 apartment complexes across the Kansas City area, along with several apartments in St. Louis.Water is scheduled to be turned off at Colony Woods at the end of the month, according to Mehlhaff. He declined an on-camera interview to talk about the situation."BPU did nothing wrong," he said.The decision to turn off power to the apartments compounds a monumental struggle for low-income residents living in some of the worst apartment conditions in Kansas, with no heat, complaints of black mold, roaches and raw sewage backups at Colony Woods.Hardman said he has lived at Colony Woods apartments since October with no heat. Until this week, he used his stove to stay warm."But we can’t use the stove now because the electricity’s off," he said.