"I take it you have a lot of experience asking for charity."
Nope. But I do have experience working with creditors. If you work with them in good faith, you can work it out, in my experience.
And I've had a lot of experience working with creditors. Going to the media is a high - risk proposition. Once you tick them off, they play strictly by the rules, and won't work too hard to give you extra accomodation. You should go to the media only after you exhaust all other options.
Better than the media is going to your congressman. The utility will have a legislative affairs department whose job is to keep legislators (state and federal) happy. A letter from your congressman will NOT be ignored.