Argue all you want with your local utility company about a bill, but when a shut-off notice comes, most folks quickly pay up.

Last week, a handful of utility companies got their own version of a shut-off notice and responded largely the same way.

Cook County commissioners talked of chopping "the damn pipe off" companies that were running pipes and wires through forest preserve lands but not paying user fees.

The same day the Chicago Sun-Times detailed that controversy and the years of unpaid fees by certain companies, checks began flowing in, county officials said Thursday. And now, a week later, nearly all of the $1 million owed to the Forest Preserve District in past- due fees is in.

A Citgo subsidiary had the largest overdue bill, at $572,552, but it was paid this week. A check for $377,337 from Comcast was mailed a day before last week's Forest Preserve Board meeting where the scofflaws were skewered.

The companies were among those cited as being delinquent, along with Peoples Energy and four other out-of-area companies.

And while $1 million in user fees had gone unpaid over 10 years, there's now just $21,373 unpaid.

A Citgo spokesman did not return calls. Comcast spokeswoman Angie Amores said the cable provider spent time verifying contracts and amounts and "worked with the county through this entire process."

Peoples Energy and its subsidiary, North Shore Gas, owed a combined $15,694, and Peoples spokesman Rod Sierra said the company has paid most of it, but continues to negotiate over fees on a small gas line.

Forest Preserve District spokesman Steve Mayberry said when the district enters into new user agreements with companies, there will be "fee schedules or clauses to ensure what needs to be done by both parties is done."

spatterson@suntimes.com