I don't get this prank at all. I admit, it does have potential, but there must be some sort of punchline we can come up with for it.
certainly.. phones work without power right?
"no my fridge is not running.. the power is out in the whole house"
"then you'd better pay your bill you crack smoking monkey!"
the point is that you, with the help of some very minor social engineering, called the power company and had scheduled a shutoff.