Article says he had no children and his wife passed several years ago. He owed $1,100 and the neighbor that found him found the bill on the table with cash clipped to it.
IMHO, cutting someone power when temps are that low just shouldn't be done.
Utilities are not allowed to cut off power of elderly people in this state. Or, it is very difficult to shut it off.
This was a municipality, not a utility company, so different rules. The municipality is not regulated like Consumers is, they don’t pay taxes, they borrow money at a lower interest rate.
So, Bay City can shut off this guy’s power - which is what they did, these limiters shut off the power when more is drawn than what is allowed. Mr. Belleman is probably right when he said they didn’t do anything wrong.
According to the rules they operate under, if this man had been a customer of Consumer’s Energy he might still be alive.
When I lived in Minnesota, it was flat-out illegal to cut off heat, either electric or gas, in the winter. Steve, is that still the case?