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Mich. to ban power limiters after man's death
AP, via Yahoo! News ^ | February 4, 2009 | DAVID EGGERT

Posted on 02/05/2009 4:00:02 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner

State regulators on Wednesday proposed emergency rules to keep more people from losing electricity or heat in the winter and to ban the use of power-limiting devices, weeks after a 93-year-old man froze to death in a home with a similar gadget.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: baycity; electricity; energy; freeze; michigan; utility
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Update for these stories:

Man freezes to death after city limits electricity

Autopsy: Bay City man froze inside his home

1 posted on 02/05/2009 4:00:03 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

That’s what happens when government has too much control.

My power is consumers energy and they suck but they’re the only game in town. That said they’re covered by the law that prevents them from shutting the power off below a certain temperature between november and april. These municipal utilities really should be covered by the same law.


2 posted on 02/05/2009 4:08:22 AM PST by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Schur could have turned the power back on by resetting the outdoor device, but neighbors said he rarely left the house in the cold.

Sure. 93 years old, probably a tad frail & afraid of the ice, snow, bitterly cold conditions, almost certainly in a confused state induced by hypothermia (if not age related in addition...

Just wondering...has the person at the electric company who signed off on shutting down the old guy's electricity, has this person stepped up & explained the rationale for their decision???

3 posted on 02/05/2009 4:16:30 AM PST by elli1
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner
Can we ban dims in Michigan? Will Michigan ever come back to reality... or are they lost souls forever?

LLS

4 posted on 02/05/2009 4:25:27 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my president... NEVER!)
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To: LibLieSlayer
In Soviet Union, power company shuts you off.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
5 posted on 02/05/2009 4:31:27 AM PST by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: cripplecreek
My power is consumers energy and they suck but they’re the only game in town. That said they’re covered by the law that prevents them from shutting the power off below a certain temperature between November and April. These municipal utilities really should be covered by the same law.

We had a similar law in Ohio when I lived there. We would go out collecting for overdue bills all winter, but rarely netted much until April or May when we again were allowed to turn of non-paying customers. 95% of our delinquent customers were deadbeats gaming the system. We'd shut them off, and the next day, they'd have service again in someone else's name. All the while, the paying customers were subsidizing their bill.

Personally, and having spent some time as a collector for the power company, I think that there should be no legal moratorium on shutting off non-paying customers. If you don't pay for a car, it gets repossessed. But the power company can't repossess the power that's already been stolen so all the paying customers get to pay for it instead.

6 posted on 02/05/2009 4:33:56 AM PST by meyer (We are all John Galt)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Fox reported this morning that the guy left a $500,000 estate.


7 posted on 02/05/2009 4:40:55 AM PST by Retired Chemist
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To: Retired Chemist

I wonder if Mr. Schur had some form of dementia? Does anyone know if the utility has third-party notification available for customers who might have billing problems? I checked the utility’s website, but there’s not much there customer service wise.


8 posted on 02/05/2009 4:44:34 AM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: Retired Chemist; mewzilla
From the earlier stories, it was clear that the old man had some sort of mental issues, usually associated with being 93 years old. When his neighbors/police found him, they also found lots of cash laying around his house, some clipped to overdue bills. Sounds like he had planned to pay the utility, but froze to death before he could do so.

The really reprehensible thing, aside from the city utility from cutting off power to a 93-year old man in sub-zero temperatures, is that the utility managers tried to blame his death on his neighbors, who in fact did check on him, or otherwise, he'd still be laying in his home as a solid block of human ice.

9 posted on 02/05/2009 4:51:04 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin is a smart missile aimed at the heart of the left!)
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To: LibLieSlayer

Those of us who could leave have mostly done so; the rest are making preparations; those of us who must remain are hunkered down and come out for elections, but we are outnumbered by the obamas in Detroit and the union thugs in Flint.

Pray for us.


10 posted on 02/05/2009 4:51:53 AM PST by ExGeeEye (COTUS 2A should be the USA's ONLY gun law.)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner
Well, I'm amazed that the utility doesn't have a moratorium on power cutoffs during the winter months. Seems to me that many privately owned utility companies do. But I'm not ready to condemn the utlity workers. It's a utility, not a social services department. And if Mr. Schur was competent enough to live alone, then he was competent enough to see to it he had assistance keeping his bills paid up. If Mr. Schur wasn't competent, then his family and/or docs should have gotten the gentleman some help.
11 posted on 02/05/2009 4:57:52 AM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: mewzilla

He had no family..wife died a few years back. Just a lonely old man trying to make it on his own while slowly losing his faculties.


12 posted on 02/05/2009 4:59:46 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin is a smart missile aimed at the heart of the left!)
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To: mewzilla

It’s also being reported that he was very frugal.


13 posted on 02/05/2009 5:02:08 AM PST by Retired Chemist
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Well, we’re going to have situations like this with an aging population. If folks don’t have family and are competent enough to live alone, it’s up to them to get help when they need it. I’m wondering where this guy’s doc was, and/or any of Mr. Schur’s friends. Was he a church goer? If so, what about his fellow parishoners and his clergyman? If he was housebound, did he get Meals-on-Wheels? If so, could those folks have looked into getting him some additional help? If he didn’t have any outside contacts, which I doubt, and he wasn’t judged to be incompetent, then there’s not anything the utility could’ve done for him. But folks might want to keep this situation in mind when thinking about elderly firends and relations. It’s not a utlity’s job to take care of them.


14 posted on 02/05/2009 5:07:38 AM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: cripplecreek

That is one funny doode!

LLS


15 posted on 02/05/2009 6:18:58 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my president... NEVER!)
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To: ExGeeEye

I do FRiend... I do.

LLS


16 posted on 02/05/2009 6:21:31 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my president... NEVER!)
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To: mewzilla
“If folks don’t have family and are competent enough to live alone, it’s up to them to get help when they need it.”

If he is not competent to live alone, and it's clear by what happened to him he wasn't, then how the hell would he be competent enough to get help? At ninety three it's likely all his friends and relatives died long ago.

Frankly freezing to death isn't the worst way to go, but you shouldn't blame him for for no longer being sharp enough to take care of himself. Indeed if his power shut off during the night, it's possible he never woke up the next morning. Old people have poor circulation, they get cold very quickly.

17 posted on 02/05/2009 6:58:41 AM PST by monday
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

millions of able bodied slackers and illegals on the dole for life but an old guy behind in a payment or a few gets hard-balled in the winter.

Upside: He’s in a better place now.


18 posted on 02/05/2009 7:07:57 AM PST by TalBlack
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To: monday; cripplecreek

One report I read said that he was wearing four layers of clothing and a winter coat and was lying on his bedroom floor when they found him.

Consumers might suck, but I don’t remember the last time I heard about a Consumer’s customer having their power turned off and freezing to death. Also, Consumers employees work in places most people wouldn’t dare drive their cars through just to keep the gas flowing and the lights on in those areas of town.

Municipal utilities like Bay City don’t have to follow the same rules as Consumers does, but it looks like these limiters are things of the past.

I heard that Mr. Schur left over 600,000 to the Bay Medical Center. We should probably be happy that this was a rich white man. It could have been way worse.


19 posted on 02/05/2009 12:36:44 PM PST by Mrs. P ("Wonder Woman wears Sarah Palin pajamas." - Blood of Tyrants)
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To: monday
At ninety three it's likely all his friends and relatives died long ago.

FWIW, the 90 somethings in our families still have friends and relatives. I think it's highly unlikely this guy lived in a vacuum. In any case, if he was no longer competent, his doc could and should have gotten him some help, even if this gentleman's family and friends couldn't be bothered.

20 posted on 02/05/2009 12:40:59 PM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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