FOR ALL CONSUMERS ENERGY CUSTOMERS IN ARVC MICHIGAN
FOR ALL CONSUMERS ENERGY CUSTOMERS IN ARVC MICHIGAN
You may have noticed an increase in your latest Consumers Power electric bills. On the bill I received in January for the period of mid December to mid January I noticed one of the Surcharges — The Energy Optimization Surcharge — had gone from $5.38 per month to $32.27 per month.
WHAT I DID;
I called Consumers Power, spoke with a very nice customer service person and was told this bill was correct as far as she was concerned. She told me she would have the accounting department contact me to reconfirm.
I then called the Michigan Public Services Commission and spoke with a very nice lady who told me that I was the third campground owner who had called, said she felt she was seeing a trend and suggested we as a group might want to try to do something about this.
Five days later I received two calls and messages from a Consumer Affairs Representative from Consumers Energy responding to the inquiry I had made to the Michigan Public Service Commission. We played phone tag for six days but finally make a connection. From this woman I received a confirmation of the original bill and an explanation of the Surcharges and what I could expect.
SHOULD YOU CARE;
Check out the portion of your bill called ELECTRIC DELIVERY CHARGES. These are the charges before the first kilowatt goes though the meter. How some of these charges are figured is explained in a very hard to get to memo.
Go to Consumers Energy Home Page http://www.consumersenergy.com/welcome.htm
In the Search box type in; D-002.10 Surcharges.
It will open up a page of Surcharge documents.
Click on the document with the date of; 23 Dec 09. It will probably be the second document listed.
This document will detail some of the surcharges that you are paying on your Consumers Energy bill.
These are charges you pay on each meter that you have. The paragraph near the bottom of the document explains that these charges are based on your yearly usage reviewed and posted on your January bill month. The annual usage is divided by twelve months to obtain a figure that gets you into a tiered range.
For example: I have one meter that basically measures all of my campground’s electrical usage.
The history of total usage for 2009 was 62,560 KWH.
Divided by 12 months equals 5,213.3 KWH per month. This puts me into the Tier 3 category.
Because my meter is inaccessible from October through April when I have little usage, I receive an estimated bill at 0 KWH per month for those months. I catch up on the May bill. Since all Surcharges are going to be applied on a monthly basis for the next 12 months including those during the 0 KWH usage period, my base rate with all ELECTRIC DELIVERY CHARGES for each month in 2010 now is $63.38.
FYI;
The lady at the Michigan Public Services Commission is Esther Blakely. Her phone number is 517-241-6250. Fax 517-335-4748. Email blakelye@michigan.gov. She wants to hear from you to try to help us.
Consumers Energy is starting a case at a public hearing at the Michigan Public Services Commission on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 to request approximately $178,000,000.00 annually above current base rate levels.
You can call Consumers Energy 800-477-5050 to request a free copy of the application.
Tom Briggs 616-942-1071 grandrogue@yahoo.com
« Time Coalition | Home | ARVC Michigan Members Host Blood Drives »
Leave a Comment