Consumers Energy

I think your Smart Readers are all wrong. I was not even in my apartment in May, and if I was I have a fireplace. There is no way that my bill can be as high as it is this month!!! You need to either get your bills to the customers at least 1 month before they are due. I have never gotten a bill to my email address. So, I look and you have me under PAY NOW. This company needs to rethink their so call Smart Meters. They are Dumb Meters.

Consumers Energy is just another soul-sucking monopoly of an energy corporation, yes, but the real reason I am writing this review is to make sure others are aware of scams associated with their gas providers. If anyone comes to your door and asks to see your energy bill and cannot prove that they are with Consumers Energy, tell them "no thank you" and shut the door. Last week, a clean-cut, well-dressed young man came to my door telling me that my home had been "red flagged" by Consumers Energy and he needed to see my bill. Thinking that I was in some sort of trouble, I complied. He then proceeded to tell me that he was from a gas provider that works with Consumers Energy, and that we were paying rates higher than what we needed to.

All he asked for was my name, email, home address, and phone number (no social security number or payment info) so I thought there was no harm. After he left, I got a little suspicious, so I started poking around on the internet about his company, Provision Power and Gas, and found that they had been sending out people to scam Consumers' customers. They tell you your rate will be "such and such cents less per unit," but what they don't tell you is that the low price is a promotion that lasts for one month. After that, it becomes "variable month-to-month," in other words, MORE EXPENSIVE THAN IT WAS. If someone wearing a Provision shirt knocks on your door, don't even open it.

They are not paying someone to walk around so that you can save money, they're doing it so that they can make money. Thankfully, I called them within the 30-day cancellation period and got out of it with not fuss, but I would have been pretty upset if I got to the point of paying extra on my gas bill before realizing what had happened. Bottom line: STAY FAR AWAY FROM DOOR-TO-DOOR ANYTHING! Real companies do not use this technique to communicate anymore. It is guaranteed to be a scam!

So this month I used less electric than last month and my bill comes and my bill is $75 more than last. It seems like every month the bill goes up a little even if I don't use more kWh. These new smart meters are junk and just make it worse on all the customers. I'm looking into switching providers. I suggest many do the same.

Setup on budget billing of 88.00. Bills have still been over 150 per month. Contacted the company, there was nothing they could do. I paid $900 in March. New offer for budget was $95. Paid that amount once then in May my bill said 349.00. I call again. They said I still owed 270.00 from when I paid $900. I was told I paid what I owed. I'm confused, because this company has no competitor they can do whatever they want. They price gouge, change rates monthly. You can not budget plan ever. I don't have gas or air conditioning in this house. So tell me how my little 2 bed 1 bath gets so high? I can only imagine and I feel horrible for those who live in a larger house or have multiple utilities. You can ask anyone who is stuck with this company because we don't have any other option unless we don't want power. And consumer knows it. It's unfortunate that they don't care about their community, or how the people in it struggle.

Ever since the meter has been installed my bill is much higher than usual, despite using less energy than when we had the old meter. How can my April reading be 950 and my May be 266 when I did absolutely nothing different? In January the reading was 1234 and February was 1186. It was 65 degrees in February. We ran no heat that month, and what little heat we needed, we burned wood in our wood burner. These readings don't make any sense. I feel overall the "smart" meter is inaccurate and our readings have been unusually high majority of the time.

I am very disappointed, and frustrated with Consumers customer care. Almost all of the reps I have gotten say "hang on a second." Then route me back through the automated system, then another rep answers the phone, and asks me the same questions the other person does. Also the automated system is terrible. Most of the time it keeps telling you to just do it online.

This company is awful. They shut my power off with NO warning and tell us they won't turn it back on until we lay a $1,800 deposit and they wouldn't work with us on a payment plan. Who the Hell can just pull that kind of money out of thin air? Not only that but our call got disconnected a minimum of 5 times and got a different person every time and a different outrageous price to turn it on. How can there be a different $ every time? They suck!!! Too bad they are the only damn option.

I bought my home 12/24/14. My electric bill (with one exception) has averaged $60 per month EVERY month. A new meter was installed. My next bill jumped to $95! I called & explained NO CHANGES to my household. I am a senior and live by myself. I received no resolution and was forced to pay the $95! The next month my bill was $145!!! I called again. I explained I live on my social security and cannot afford to pay this huge bill! They told me it was my fault and there was nothing they could do. How can they do this???

Our apartment complex here requires we opt out of smart meters, which all of us have done. Consumers Energy comes in at random and installs smart meters without our permission, we ask to have them removed, they remove them and then they charge us another removal fee of $124. This has happened to me twice in one year. They also take no responsibility for their errors. Plus it is impossible to call in and talk with anyone who can do anything about this. I repeatedly need assistance and to spend at least an hour even getting thru to someone who can do something about this. And then they accept no responsibility for their errors. Just a matter of time until they do this again. The contractors who do the installation say that their orders are often incorrect. One recently was afraid to (validly in this case) install an ordered smart meter!

Summer of 2016 had brand new Windows installed. Then they upgraded the meter. This winter instead of bills going down they went up. Also installed programmable thermostat. Bill went up an extra $125. Why. I would like a higher up consumers energy rep to contact me.

I don't know how it's legal or possible, but Consumers energy shut off the gas on the 20th of January, 2 days after making a payment, and being on after applying for the "winter shutoff protection plan"! I am a low income single father of two teens, with a disabled brother also living in the house, and I make payments, albeit sometimes late, I never just don't pay. Yet today, a 32-degree day so I guess they figured it as warm enough, they turned off the gas without even knocking at the door. There are 3 dogs, a cat and a lizard plus 4 people living in the house, and I guess they figured we don't need warmth!!

Consumers Energy are liars and practically gangsters the way they shake us down for every dime then shut off services when you're a little late! I've explained my situation, have always paid, apply for their "protection plan", which doesn't do anything but mislead, because if you're late, they shut off anyways? I don't know how they can even call it shutoff protection when IT does NO SUCH THING! I paid EVERY MONTH except being LATE in DECEMBER, and now dead of winter I have NO GAS, wow! Hopefully a lawyer can help.

My bill has been $44 to $54 for several months. Now they have added on so many other things it jumped to $78. The main one was "distribution" which added on $22. I now have to "rent" the lines they send the current through. I afraid to see what's on next month's bill.

During the time of installation of their handy new smart meter at my family's address, they decided that they are going to leave the energy and gas on after saying that there was an issue during the installation. Two weeks later, they turn off everything without a notice at all and tell me and my family that we were fraudulent and tampered with the meters and turned them all back on after they "turned us off"? Well I am the type to file a lawsuit but won't win because I'm sure that lawyer fees fall into category of non profit.

Apparently it's fully acceptable and even commendable for customer service reps at Consumers Energy to insult clients. The representative went as far as low-blowing me about being a parent!!

Well over the last 6 months my bill has doubled and at first I was trying to figure it out but wasn't too concerned. Now it's been 6 months and I pay my bill every month and pay the amount due but over the last 6 months my bill has been roughly around 275 dollars!!?? And when I call Consumers and try and figure out why they say I need to use the energy saving tips on their website. Well I have changed everything in my house to energy saver. Then a month ago we started having power surges and they sent out a tech and he found corrosion on the line connected to my house. The tech informed me we were using 12 volts on the left side of our meter and said so pretty much you are running your house off a car battery right now. Then when I get the bill this month after the line is fixed my bill is less than half it was last month!!!

Then I call Consumers and ask them, "Since the line was bad am I responsible for this big bill you keep sending me?" Their response was, "We will have a tech come and check the lines and make sure our equipment is running correctly but anything that has to do with the lines has nothing to do with your bill." So after the lines were fixed my bill just mystically goes down, conveniently.

Consumers always say they do all these donations to charities and programs but what they don't say in their commercials is that they are trying to take as much money as they can from their customers to pay for the charity work they do so it doesn't come out of their pockets! Job well done Consumers Energy for another unpleased customer!!! CONGRATULATIONS you've done it again! But unless we relocate you will get your money and continue to have the power of ripping off low to middle class families. Merry Christmas to all of you. I will pray that you may be considerate one day and that karma doesn't come back on you. Good day!

This all really begins over three years ago when I lived out in the middle of nowhere with my fiance and our daughter. We always paid our bill (which was quite high for such a small house, but we assumed it was because it was so poorly insulated). After reading some of the accounts on here I wish we would have paid closer attention to our bill. Sometimes a little late, but we never received a shut off notice. When we moved in the middle of winter, it was pretty hectic and since we were staying with his parents until our house was ready, I didn't have to bother with utilities and, my fault, I forgot to call and have it switched out of my name for about a week.

I called and spoke with a representative and was informed that my bill was close to $1000. I was stunned. We knew we had one more bill coming and that we had yet to pay the current bill, but we were expecting a $250-$350 bill, not $1000! We assumed that the landlord came to the house and ran up a bunch of gas and electricity while it was still in my name, but I wish I would have examined the bill a little more closely when it arrived. I have been sent into collections because I can't pay that and I am not able to make payments on that balance, so I'm hoping they don't add it to our Consumer's account at our current address and make it my fiance's problem to deal with.

So now our current situation. I am sitting here in my dining room freezing with no gas, no heat, no hot water, the day before Thanksgiving. We were shut off yesterday around 5pm. Shut off and denied access to heat on the first really cold night of the year with two young children in the house. We paid the amount necessary to have service restored last night, but it was past 5pm, so no one was available to come restore service and it will be done first thing in the morning.

It has not yet been turned back on. They wasted no time shutting us off and allowing us to freeze, but they are sure going to take their time getting over here and turning us back on. All over $140 by the way. We're not into the thousands or anything. Just $140 bucks. That's all it takes to have them shut off your gas while you sit there worrying about whether or not your kids are warm enough or if your pipes are going to burst. It's just not fair. Yes we let our bill get behind, but only a month. I just wish they were as determined to restore people's gas as they are about shutting it off.

I have been fighting with Consumers Energy for over a year now. I let relatives stay at my property. When they left they left a bill that was not too high but high. When I returned to the property to restore power Consumers tells me I'm responsible for the bill on the house because I own and I benefited from the power. What power? There is no power. What am I benefiting from? So I go and attempt to get help with the bill because they have now added $1900 in late fees from it not being paid. I get the help. They talk to Consumers and work it out where I can pay some, they pay some and the power is restored. Well we paid what was asked and now they are saying that not good enough. They want another $2300 before they will turn on the power. Consumers refuses to work with or help anyone. I'm going to go to congress with this and see if they can help me.

I am a consumer of Consumers Energy almost for the last 10 years and paying for appliance protection plan for last 7 years. Last week, for the first time I have to ask for their service as my furnace was off. I ended up with totally low standard services by the Consumers Energy third party services. Ended up taking couple of half days off from work and one half day for my wife as well to complete this service. My understanding is, Consumers Energy trying to use their name to sign up people for this protection plan, getting the money in their pocket, sub-contracting to a low cost servicing party that does a very poor job.

Consumers Energy don't care at all as I struggled to reach a customer service manager to understand what's going on with my case. I have paid enough over the years for the protection plan that brought additional sufferings only. Without the plan, I could call a local professional and with very less time and money my furnace could be up and running. Found no reason to buy protection plan from Consumers Energy and if possible not buying energy from them as well. No wonder why Consumers Energy is rated so low in this forum.

I am beyond frustrated with Consumers. I own a business and a home and use them for both and keep having horrible assistance! I pay my bills on time and am absolutely fed up with them! Called to set up a payment plan for winter and I was told cannot take payments over the phone. And she was RUDE about how if I own a business I should not have to be making a payment plan. From the business side I have always been able to make payment over the phone and never have had an issue with setting up a payment plan. Cannot believe how rude my representatives have been over the past few months and I wish there was another company in my area to switch to.

This utility company is the absolute worst, most disorganized of any I have previously dealt with. Payments plan is offered and then retracted once a payment is made. They continue to harass me with overdue and disconnection notices even though a payment arrangement was already in place. Nightmare from hell.

I was a customer of Consumers for 2 years in an apartment I shared. The rates varied greatly and the customer service reps never gave me a direct answer of why this would happen when we lived consistently the same way. Upon the end of our lease at the apartment Consumers continued to bill us despite the fact our lease had ended and we had provided them with a proof of the end of our lease. We had to pay two more bills than we should of, and threatened to send our bills to collections during the period of time we spent trying to get the issue resolved. If you have the opportunity to use another company, I would recommend that you do so!

We purchased the insurance for our appliances over the phone and never received any notification of the coverage. Recently, we had a problem with our refrigerator and we called Consumers Energy. They sent an electrician: he came by, listened to us, didn't made any diagnostic, and left in 5 min. He didn't know what the problem was, and told that he'll be calling us. We waited almost two weeks for his call, and had to call back again to customer service.

They promised to send somebody different, but never did. When we called the third time, Consumers Energy representative simply told us that this problem does not cover by insurance. (They even didn't know the actual problem). We are very disappoint the way they treat their clients. Would never recommend to buy their insurance. It's a waste of money. We found a private company - very reliable. They came by in two days after we called them. The same day they determine the problem and changed the part that was broken. We paid them $180.

I have been behind on my electic bill. I noticed that my meter was not working correctly. So I called Consumers on it they said they would have to prorate my bill for a few months. The meter was changed and they doubled my bill. You can't fight them, I was wrong for trying. They said that is what I would have used. So now my bill is $2500 approx. I set up the shut off protection plan with them. Great, I thought and had my bills sent to my email.

Well Consumers DID NOT put in the correct email and the following month I contacted them again this time I was told I was taken off the shut off protection plan and I needed to pay the whole bill. So because of something that was their fault I have my electricity shut off. I support 6, there is not a way I could. But I was allowed 1 medical emergency extension. Great. Well I tried to get help from all the agencies in Lenawee County. Not one place could help. I make too much for DHS help but on my income taxes I am below poverty level. I have no one to help. So now I am without electric and a bill for $3500.00. Not a happy consumer.

The ONLY reason I am using Consumers energy is because I have to through my landlord. Otherwise, I would not be using this ** company. Their online services are probably the worst I have ever seen. It has logged me out of my account saying my information does not match their records, even though it is the correct information. Over the past week, I have been on hold with them for close to four hours. Then when you finally get through to someone, you receive the worst customer service. These people are rude and do not know what they are talking about. They will take a ton of your information, then transfer you to someone else where you have to repeat your information all over again. Worst customer service. Worst wait times on phones. WORST COMPANY. Avoid if at all possible.

Waited a full week to hear back from an email I wrote Consumers after depleting my minute plan trying to fix a second default from Payment Protection Scam Plan. The answer was that, ignoring the fact it wasn't our fault for the missed payment, and disregarding the fact they ran us around and gave us false information. Disabled single mom with 2 special needs kids on strict disability. They won't work at all to arrange a payment plan nor offer any advice - just that we will be turned off Monday sometime after 2pm. Could care less that I was victim of ** just prior to the due date and wasn't in any mindset to deal with much for a week and a half - even provided the prosecutor's case number and other proof of special circumstances - they could care less and will end up driving one more nail in my coffin. When will someone do something about this? I'm in tears...I just want to get back on the plan...I can pay...SMH.

I am separated from my husband and the light bill in his name. He owes a bill for $9000 dollars. Consumer power add later charge on every month of $250 dollars. I am a mother of one handicap daughter. She on a vent and o2. She need her lift electric wheelchair. They won't put the bill in my name and now they are going to shut my light off due to his bill. No one can help with that big of a bill. I try to get on payment plan. We only make 730 a month. I need help. Don't know what to do... any help.

My mom is an insulin dependent diabetic. She's almost 70 years old, disabled. She's had 2 strokes. She forgets things, which is why I am currently paying her bills. Recently she had her electricity shut off by Consumers and I got it restored and set her up in their payment plan to keep her electricity on. Well, we missed a payment because my mom had to have surgery and stayed in an inpatient facility for physical therapy for 2 weeks. I sent an email to Consumers and explained what happened, told them I was making a payment the same day, which I did. I received a nasty email back stating that my mom missed a payment and she now has to pay her full bill or she would be shut off again and they won't work with her on a payment plan again. Nice, right?

So lo and behold, on August 1, 2016, they shut her off. It's incredibly hot, her insulin can't be refrigerated and so she can't take her insulin, which is causing her sugars to get way too high. I appeal to DHS, denied, call St Vincent DePaul, they won't take more calls for another week. Contact several churches, and not one responds. Commission on Aging will help with $200, but that won't get her service restored. All we wanted was to stay in the payment program. We were TRYING to pay the bill, but they refused to continue working with us. I bet if my mom dies or ends up in a diabetic coma they'll start to care.

For the last several years Consumers Energy has really caused me a lot of problems, and headache because of many things. These things include not returning phone calls, overcharging for services, claiming payments weren't made, and estimating usage far beyond the set amount of times that are allowed. On multiple occasions the employee who is supposed to read the meter has pulled into my driveway, sat there, and then left when the meter is on the other side of the house. Their excuse was there was a fence across the only access to the meter. This is absolutely not true for 2 reasons. The first being there isn't, and has never been a fence where they were claiming, and the second is that they could have walked the long way around the house to get to the meter.

This caused consumers to claim that I used almost 14000 kwh in the month of Feb 2014. When you try to contact Consumers Energy to correct problems you either can't talk to a person because they have everything automated with a system that is very poorly designed, or when you do talk to an employee they are very rude, and seem only to care about how you are going to pay the bill, even if the bill is wrong, and you can prove it. This last issue is that they are threatening to shut me 8 days before the bill is due. They are the only electric utility company in the area, and therefore have a monopoly on the area, and can charge, and do whatever they want in their minds. This is not right, and if there is a way to change it, then it should be changed.

On Wednesday, July 27, 2016 around 4 P.M. I spoke with Stacy in customer service, number **, regarding the fact that our bill has gone up from 176.00 per month to 318.00 each month. We have been on the Shutoff Protection Plan for around two years now so that we can afford to have service with this company. We live in Kingsley, MI and they are the only electricity provider in the area. Stacy said that our actual bill is $264.78 and due to the fact that we have a past due balance of 1184.95 since the "protection plan" actually charges 250.00 per month, but we've consistently paid 176.00 for years now. So, Stacy rudely and coldly explained that there is nothing they can do. I became frustrated and requested to speak with a manager. She told me that she could have her call me back, but refused to let me speak with her right away.

Stacy stated that our bill amount will be 318.00 for the next six months, then it will change again. She said that the only thing that could be done is to call 211 and get assistance paying the bill. When I told her there was no funding in our area, she remained cold and rude. I further explained that I have a pending disability case and no income, and that my fiance is on disability so we are on a limited budget. I also explained that I use a breathing machine, and I need electricity. She said she would have a manager call, there was nothing she could do and the manager would support her claims.

An hour later, a supervisor called and spoke with my fiance, Sean **. The conversation went as expected. She (no name given), went over the bill with him and she was quite rude. He explained that there is no way our bill should be this high, and that CE customers are being monopolized. She said "This is not true, and if you really wanted services changed you could do something about it."

He explained that they are the only provider in our area, so she suggested that if we were serious about not having CE there were things we can do, implying that we move. He explained that we cannot move because we are on section 8 and this home is our only option. We were floored by the lack of care for the customer with this company. The final "fix" was this lady telling us to pay 176.00 this month, then don't pay the rest. They will send a shut off and we can have can organization pay a portion, go back on the plan again, just to go through this ordeal again. How is this acceptable?

I filed an online complaint about Consumers Energy's erroneous billing, and unresponsiveness with your agency on May 25th, 2016. My complaint stated: "In the last 12 months I paid an average $81.86/month, which is on the high end (based upon the last 5 years at this address) of what I actually use for my 1 bedroom ~700 ft2 home with NO WASHER/DRYER, NO DISHWASHER, no air conditioning, water softener run 1 time per month, heat at 55F all winter and I work so no usage from 7am - 6pm and I seldom cook!! Now they are sending me another bill for $368!! When I checked the website a week ago it showed I had overpaid and had a credit. There is no way I owe nearly $400!!!"

Apparently Ms. ** didn't read the complaint, but accepted the BS explanation given by CE's representative that they couldn't check my meter because of a dog!! There has NEVER BEEN an outside dog, all they need to do is open the gate and walk up to the house. Again, I state their billing me addition $440.59 is an overbilling of nearly 45%!!!

Of course CE never reflected the $50 credit for the confusion when I entered a payment plan for 8 weeks while trying to correct this mess. The contract which never arrived in the mail, and an online payment option was turned off so I was stuck paying their $6.25 fee for a phone payment. Perhaps I should send you all a bill for my time. Please clear this up without further delay.