Man pays $350 bill mostly in pennies

BRISTOL, Va., March 9 (UPI) -- A Virginia man says he showed his distaste for a $350 electric bill by bringing more than 29,000 pennies to the power company's office as payment.

John Almany of Bristol said he and his brother, Gary, concocted the plan of using pennies to pay the large bill in January and contacted several banks to raise the right amount of change, the Bristol (Va.) Herald-Courier reported Monday.

"I called some nearby banks to see if I could exchange cash for pennies," Almany said. "We got all the way to the Ws in the phone book. One bank gave me $170 in pennies and the other $123."

Almany said he and his brother loaded the loose pennies into two duffel bags, which together weighed 170 pounds, and brought them to the Bristol Virginia Utilities office.

"We pulled into BVU about 2 (p.m.) and took the bags of unrolled pennies to the pay counter," Almany said. "To make my case better, I noticed a man just paid cash right before me. I laid my bill on the counter and told the lady, 'Here is my bill and I'm here to pay every penny of it."'

Almany said officials eventually decided to accept his payment and counted out $26 in the two hours before closing. He said he took the remaining coins to a machine that exchanged them for cash and paid the remainder of his bill in more traditional currency.