Is Grid Heat a Human Right - A DTE Question

[muskie1]

Well it's good to hear that DTE is not letting things get behind I hope that means they are reading the meters inside the apartments every month, I got stuck with someone else's bill after moving from another apt. in the same building.

The funny thing about the meters is when I had my electricity shut off the one time in 30yrs. I had contacted DTE and they were happy to work with me on splitting up the 2 months I owed them and waiving the re-connect fee. When I explained I lost my job they were kind . Shortly after I had service restored they did come out and switch me to one of their new digital meters.
I callled and asked if there was a problem with my old meter and they said no I was part of the test program for the new meters. I was the only one on my street with one so I figure it is probably a lot easier for them to shut the new digital one off remotely.

[hhockey]

1kielsondrive, I aint mister tough guy. I'm not exactly sitting on easy street, but i do know my priorities. All your examples do not speak to what a priority is. If you only have two bucks to your name are you going to buy a lottery ticket or something to eat? I think i can answer that. If my family is about to freeze to death I am not about to waste money on item that isnt needed but try and pay my bill. God forbid if i got cancer, but if i did I wouldnt be worrying about a lottery ticket.

[DetroitPole]

Done playing nice. I demand to see evidence that people who are having their utilities shut off are spending their money on booze, cigarettes, and lottery tickets. Anything? Anything?

What is with this lottery tickets thing? I have yet to see a shred of evidence - even anecdotal - that there is a correlation between utility shutoffs and "worrying about a lottery ticket."

Of course, these lovely posters [[and fiscally responsible Americans, I might add!) are stopping short of saying "Newports" and "Malt Liquor." Perhaps in the spirit of goodwill towards all men.
Enough already.
Merry Christmas indeed.

[English]

^Thanks, DetroitPole. Merry Christmas to you, too.

[firstandten]

One starts to go down a slippery slope when personal budget priorites are questioned. There are many things that go into those decisions and sometimes they change weekly, daily whatever.

The concern I have are utility companies shuting people off during the winter months. There are some states that don't allow their ulitity companies to do it period. Michigan is not one of those states. To me that's where the problem lies, and where legislation needs to come about to make sure that shut offs doesn't happen during the winter. I believe that right now if the utility company id's you as elderly or disabled they won't shut you off regardless, but everyone else is fair game.

The utility company wants to have that leverage of weather over you to get you to pay, but in the winter months they also have the power of life and death over you as well and a monopoly should never have that kind of power.

If shut offs were not allowed between Nov and April would there be a certain amount of lost income because of people not paying and knowing they can't get cut off. absolutely. However that would be one of the costs of doing business as a monopoly, and at some point the service would need to be restored and the company could then put policies in place to lessen the impact of the reduced revenue during the winter months.

So I guess the answer to the question in the first post is yes, but only during 3-4 months out of the year.