Hey, the real story is that this man had no family. The GOVERNMENT run utility installed a device on his electricity that limited the amount of power he could draw into his house. If he went over, it shut it off like a circuit breaker. His furnace did not run! He froze! The city run utility did this to him!
He had money on his kitchen table clipped to utility bills, it sort of sounds like he had the money but just had not paid the bill. Sometimes people in their 90’s forget things. For sure no one should have expected him to remember how to go out and reset his limiter device on the power pole.
It is a little different write-up in the local paper and explains a few more details:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2172273/posts
If this had been Consumers Energy, the big utility in the area, I’m sure heads would be rolling. This is a small town that does not let Consumers provide power, they have their own city run utility. The city is run by clowns, for the most part.
but how does a 93 year old get to the electric company in the middle of a winter storm to pay his electric bill even if he did remember.