Consumers Energy Reviews

What a company! I changed my checking account since I switched banks. I paid the bill myself directly (to avoid problems that month) .. They still tried to pull the bill´s amount (which I had already paid) from my old checking and they shared me 15$ penalty!!! I called them but they said nothing can be done. Utility companies like these only look after themselves.

This company is heartless and the customer service representatives seem to get enjoyment hearing people can’t afford to keep their gas or electric service. My service was shut off months ago and I’ve tried to negotiate to get it back and all I got is rude nasty females saying no negotiating.

I had to replace my appliances 4 years ago due to a power surge. I thought it was on me to replace them. Recently my new washer had a power surge and is no longer working, this is the second time needing to replace a washer for the same reason. Fire inspector said if it's a power surge, Consumers is responsible for replacing the appliance affected. Consumers is not helping.. not even replying to my call. I've called 4 times. Julie promised to call me back with any kind of answer... Even Julie whom seemed super efficient when I called.. did not call me back. Just fix my washer that blew or tell me if my house is safe if it's on you... Fix it. It's so simple.

I live in Orchard Haven. I called about the electrical wires in trees near my house on three separate occasions. They came out and said no work needed to be done. Sure enough, those exact wires caused an outage last night. All the wires in this neighborhood are entangled in trees. They are either deliberately not trying to take care of them or they need to hire some new people because it's plain as day.

I'm writing this in regard to Consumers Energy charging a convenience fee after I tried to pay my bill by phone several times, however, their technology did not work so I had to talk to a customer service person. Why should I have to pay a $2.99 convenience fee when I spent 30 minutes trying to pay my bill by phone, but their pay by phone system did not work! This is criminal! There is no way after spending all of my time trying to give them money that I should be charged a "convenience fee" to have to wait 10 minutes to talk to someone to take my money! I spent 45 minutes in total trying to pay my bill and they charge me? Absolutely ridiculous! I'm also going to write a letter to our governor about these excessive fees. Consumers has to be taught a lesson!

You shouldn't send anyone door to door in this day and age. It's not safe for anyone. Secondly if I wanted to purchase something or change something with Consumers I would contact you. You make enough money. You don't need to solicit for more. That's super tacky.

So, their payment plan option is nice and all having same amount to be paid year round, until billing screws it up. So I got on the plan, paid first month. Didn't get billed next month then get a double bill for September. Yep everything going up with 7 in my house will go well. NOT! AND THEY WOULDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. OFF GRID AND SOLAR IS THAT WAY TO GO INSTEAD OF THESE CROOKS.

I am a former Consumers Energy customer. I have not been with them for two years. I accidentally sent them money through my bank and paid someone else's account. They refused to refund my money even though my name is nowhere on the account. Finders keepers I guess. What a horrible company.

They need to be held accountable for their lazy work ethic! Price gouging.... And fraudulent business practices! Let's all get on board Michigan! They work for us! Days without power from a 10 minute storm.... UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

So power's out. We live on a small street. Mostly old and a few special needs so I called to see if they could get someone sooner since the power station sits at the end out road. The lady told if we can't handle it there are stores that will allow us to go sit and cool off. Special needs I guess didn't get through so looking more into it. The bigger richer cities are getting fixed first. The not so fortunate wait. You definitely have zero issue taking that money but when things are rough you drag your feet. Biggest trash company around.

Consumers Energy is similar to the Mafia. Ridiculous prices, forced to use them. My family used less energy and gas than we have in the last 4 years according to their charts, but yet pay more than I ever have. Struggling, made a 370 payment on a $580 balance, gave me a shut notice less than two weeks later and I'm paid biweekly, then instead of helping, they threatened me with a $600 deposit I'll have to pay if my power gets shut off.... We live in Idiocracy. Wish I could convert to wood stove, geothermal and solar 'cause they're awful as a company.

It was actually a pleasure speaking with Consumers Energy customer service.. They were extremely helpful as well as empathetic to my situation. They offered several options to resolve my issues. I honestly have NEVER spoke to anyone at Consumer Power that was unpleasant or rude. They truly will work with you the best they can.

I should have the option to pick another power supplier when the one I have is poor and under performs. Consumers can do as they see fit because they know you can’t get power anywhere else. Terrible company, power goes out way too often but my bill always goes up.

Literally the worst power company in Michigan. Inconsistent power, if there are storms the power goes out, even days later. Incompetent and incredibly overpriced for usage. When will they be held accountable? They were fined 1 million dollars for poor practices, but nothing has changed.

Recently there was a a lot of wind that knocked out about 100k people's power. By 10:00 A.M. the storm was over and it was bright and sunny, fair weather, the entire rest of the day AND night, as a lineman, I know that is MORE than enough time to have EVERYONE'S power restored. I understand why Michigan power companies are getting class action lawsuits filed against them. Nothing but thieves that can't do their jobs with any sort of competence.

Truck 28-209. We were at the speedway in Howell, and he started honking at the people who were pulling out, and then we continued to pull forward as we did have a trailer and that was closest gas station, he sat there for a minute just giving the rudest look to us, and then as he pulled next to us to the other pump, he flipped us off the whole time. I understand it’s frustrating but we all have somewhere we all have to be, and being rude isn't the way to go to make this world a better place, and especially to know it's a energy guy, very disappointing. He was an older gentleman, and we are a young adult couple, I didn't know this was the way older generation was supposed to treat the younger who are just getting to a point in life. Just very very disappointed in this company.

My power goes out constantly. I’ve called to have them trim the trees that are hanging on my power line and that was over two years ago. They said that there are fine and it’s not an emergency. Today my power has gone off 4 different times and I’m sick and tired of it! They send my book every month and it’s an “estimated read” never an actual. My bill went from $110 a month to $185 every month. I am calling an attorney and filing a lawsuit. If you are having the same issues, I would definitely do the same as they do nothing to maintain their lines and are notorious for price gouging and giving people estimated bills to rip them off.

We have requested the replacement of a great number of street lights. Our kids wait for buses with NO lighting. Where we are at, two of them have been taken down by reckless driving as it is. People drive far too fast on our curved road, which grant it, that part is in no way Consumers fault. However, citizens going without lighting at the expense of careless drivers is someone's fault! Drivers also use center turn lanes as passing lanes! Not a good idea!! Therefore, if Police do not or cannot stop them, WE need to at the very least be able to see them coming with well lit streets. I am afraid it will be as always-- wait until someone is kill to get things done!!

Outages 4 to 6 times a yr. They always say an unexpected outage the issue is always downed trees. Have called and they say they are spending money to fix the issue. No improvement to this review. Any time there is wind the power goes out.

On multiple occasions I have witnessed Consumers Energy trucks driven with absolutely no regard for traffic laws or other drivers. How are people supposed to trust a company that allows hazardous drivers to use their company trucks and then handle high voltage?

When will this company have to be held accountable!! The only power source we have and each time we get wind we lose power!! They charge us astronomical rates each month, pay their lackluster employees way more than they deserve, yet we the customers have to continually deal with power outages!! They don’t maintain the lines!! They are only out working when there is an actual outage. They should be upgrading the power lines with all of the money we give them, what is their excuse. I wish our state officials would have better mandates for this monopoly company!! Either do your job or stop charging everyone so much for no product!!!

Every time the wind blows we lose power. Might just as well be living in the stone age with this company at the helm of our electrical needs. We need Duke Energy to swallow up this useless provider. We get a snowstorm and the power is out for days. Lived here for 5 months and had 3 outages. No reason for this except they don't maintain the lines. Get the limbs out of the way. If this doesn't help then upgrade your damn equipment. We are now in the 21st Century and dealing with problem of 3rd world countries. By the way why are service fees and etc. More than the cost of my electricity.

There is no reason why they should charge $2.99 per month credit card fee. They make enough money off people as it is. Something need to be done about this. They're too big of a company and they think they can do do anything they want. Absolutely ridiculous and they know it.

My energy use has been less and less but my bill keeps increasing. I pay more in added fees then what my usage bill is. This should be criminal. This utility company knows people have to have them. So they run up bills and take advantage of customers. Horrible business. If I had another option I would not stay with them.

I've lived at my current address for one year and I've lost power many, many times. After a severe ice storm, it was out 5 days (understandable), then the following week 26 hours. A few days ago a tree across the street fell and put it out for hours and again today it went out for no discernible reason. That's just a few of the times and doesn't include all of the flickering and outages that were short-term. It's ridiculous how much the power goes out. I am a 51-year-old disabled person with a 4-year-old daughter and I cannot be living in the dark. I've lost so much food because of the crappy service here but my renter's insurance says it's a $250 deductible. Crazy! I'm getting so very angry with this company and their outdated system. Living in the stone ages and they don't care so long as you send them their money every month. If I had options I would definitely switch. Terrible service.

I realize 600,000 people were without power, but the people rely on checking when the power is coming back on. People who don't have power, are told they do. Please fix this problem, and the power!!!!

I installed a charging system in my home. The charging circuit was installed by GM in the cost of the car. The charger was a required charger through the link on Consumers Energy website. Charger cost was $560.00. Consumers rebate should have been $500. It was denied because GM installed the circuit so I did not have any cost estimate. They said their term on a different webpage explained that but the webpage I was using included the charger as part of the system.

My family sticks to a budget in our home and we follow our bill pretty closely. This year we barely need AC, kept power use to a minimum and lights to a minimum because we have barely been home. I noticed our bill go from 77 to almost 200. I called Consumers and they said they were estimating bills because our meter was bad. However my meter was working properly. How do you charge premium cost when the systems in your home isn't even operating at those times. I checked my bill and sure enough it says we estimated.

We requested new service to our new build 1 month ago. After repeated calls to Consumers a service rep came out and inspected the site and said it would be another 3 months before hook up. We sold the house we currently live in and desperately need electricity in the new build but have no option but to run a generator nonstop. What can I do to speed up this process.

This has happened, not once, not twice or even three times, this has happened 4 times in the last year! Consumers Energy are illegally charging outrageously high late fees. The law states that they can charge up to 2% of the delinquent balance. Just this last month, I paid the entire bill, minus $10.09, so with that being said, my past due balance is $10.09 & they are telling me they are charging me $9.12 in late fees!! Sounds like more than 2% to me, doesn’t it?

So they are redoing sidewalks around my house and I am outside looking for my dogs and I just so happen to run into the concrete. They had no caution tape, no post around saying wet concrete. They had nothing! I hurt my knee! And my phone is cracked.

I check my Electric usage every day on their Electric forecast and my bill is always quite a bit higher than what it shows on my account usage. I called them and they more or less say you can't go by what they have showed you used.

I followed our estimated bill because of the huge increase, with the economy. The prior billing month we used air conditioning on a consistent basis. For this cycle we turned on the air 1 time, only to 70* overnight and the heat 1 time overnight and only to 65*. Our house is also only 10 years old. Lights off in empty rooms, devices of all kinds unplugged when not in use, added as well. The bill estimator told us we were in line to see a $105 decrease in this month's bill. The bill came for the next cycle at 65% higher than the bill estimator. We called in with multiple waits times and calls totaling over an 1 hour and 15 minutes. There were days where the meter did not read and so they were not added to the bill estimator.

Every time a little wind kicks up the neighbor's tree limbs arc and blow the fuse in the transformer pole. They never provide accurate estimates. This happens 6 times a year or more. I have to quickly run and throw my main breaker to prevent more devices from frying when they restore power. I complained about my router, fridge, and air conditioner being fried and their engineer said, "Spend more money on your surge protectors.". They are worthless. It's too bad the government picks these people over the smaller and more diverse, renewable, and resilient competition.

I have a bill for a utility company but it does not belong to me. I was homeless then in a rehabilitation residential unit. Come to find that someone used my name so I could not see this. How are they allowed to do this without a lease? I never had a bill at that address. I was only using it for mail. How do I fight this?

It's a busy world full of busy people like me. We have things to do, business to take care of, condos to buy and move into. If anyone isn't doing everything in their power to speed along this process of the community functioning properly, then something is seriously wrong with them. When I call any company of any kind, the problem isn't when I'm stuck with a robot that just sits there and overexplains what buttons I should push, depending on what I called for; the problem is when the first list of options DOESN'T INCLUDE GETTING CONNECTED TO AN AGENT!!!

About a month and a half to two months ago someone came by to talk to us about cutting a couple branches off our tree for the line going through our yard. Yesterday we got home and our tree (only one in our yard) was hacked hideously! If they were cutting that much off they should’ve just told us they were going to cut the whole tree down! We never had a problem with this tree with the power line. Now we are probably going to have to get rid of the only tree we’ve enjoyed for years in our yard!!! We expected better professionalism than this! We are VERY unhappy with the service done!

We have construction on our street that required the gas to be turned off during the day during early March. We called to have service restored and they said they would come between 9am-12pm and someone needed to be home. My partner stayed home and no one came. At 12:15 he called. They reported that the rep came and no one answered, but we have a very loud dog who never barked. He then set up a new time, 3pm-6pm. Again, no one showed. We called at 6pm, they cancelled the appointment because we had already had one that day. They refused to come again until the next morning. All the customer service reps were nice enough, but management refused to do anything. Temperatures dropped into the 30s that night and my kids had to sleep in their winter coats with every blanket in the house. I was told I would be getting a call from their customer care team but never received one and they will not transfer me when I call the reps.

She is just outstanding and super professional. I will hire her to run my business. The quality of work she represents is 2nd to none. She went beyond her means to take care of the business at hand. She deserves a raise. She needs to be in business on her own that she will be a millionaire.

We lost power a couple times throughout the summer. 1 was almost a week. Now we lost power this past weekend for 3 days. Had power back 1 day and now we are without again. They are a joke. Terrible service. Every time the wind blows we seem to lose power. Then charge a service few every month which is more than the energy we lose. If you can go to DTE or Great Lakes. Stay away from Consumers.

Never use the appliance service plan with Consumers Energy! I am on the gold plan. They sent a contractor out to put a valve on my water heater and he installed it incorrectly, which has been a big problem for me. Now, they said they closed my case because they don't deal with install issues and they won't fix it. Are you kidding me!? I will cancel my contract come May!

Consumers Energy is horrible. We are always losing power and they always take a long time to fix it. We have spent so much money in replacing food because of them. When are they going to actually fix the problem instead of constantly bandaiding it? Lord knows they way over charge everyone, the least they can do is provide decent service!

Our power had been out since Tuesday. It came back on briefly on Friday and now it is out again. We have lost all of our groceries and are not in a good financial position to be dealing with this. They say they are working on it but there hasn't been a single truck in our neighborhood today. Now all of our food has gone bad and they keep postponing when it will be fixed. Absolutely ridiculous. They knew about our outage at 10 am. Didn't dispatch a crew until 4:30 pm, and it still hasn't been resolved tonight. Disgraceful service.

No power for 5 days and more. It's not the first time and they are not responsible for nothing. What about if this happen in winter? They don't care about customers: children, elderly and sick people.

I have lost power twice now since June 1st when they (Consumers Energy) decided to start "peak rates" which usually saves people money. I think I figured out how they save people money on electricity now though! They just can't provide you with electricity more than 10 days in a row without you losing power for 8 hours or more. Currently we are at 12 hours today with another 4 hours to go according to their estimate. What caused last power outage? It was too hot at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Today's power loss reason? It rained. No serious wind in my area at all. (Highest wind got was around 15 mph) also we live in downtown Fenton. So there is no excuse for their lack of commitment to provide quality power to residents here. Went from a rate of about 10 cents per kwh to 15 cents per kwh for 5 hours of the day (2 pm to 7 pm). This company is just getting worse. We have lost power at least 4 times in the last 6 months.

So they are raising our rate 10%. Our car insurance company gave us a break our health insurance even Xfinity... Grocery stores pop companies and other places gave pay raises to essential workers. Our government gave us stimulus. We're being a DJ at a bar and they close them. Don't help my bills in any way. But you guys seem to want to raise our rates. Where's your sympathy? Do you not understand that people aren't making it right now....And you want a raise our bill again? Seriously.

Dear Consumers Power

Apparently we had a gas leak at our meter. James knocked on our door and let us know that he was here to check our line. He was very friendly and efficient! If it hadn't been for consumers sending James out, things could have gone wrong. So thank you for being friendly and efficient and repairing a leak that could have had a horrible outcome! James certainly takes his job seriously and should be recognized for his friendliness!

We purchased property and built a pole barn with a full bathroom and are living in an RV as we will be building a house soon. Because we do not currently have a house going in Consumers is charging us and extra $3000 to put in electric. They said we won't be using enough energy at this point and they need to make money. The amount could be refundable but most likely not, according to them.

Had a very high bill and when I called first thing they ask is if I had central air and then proceeded to blame it all on that, didn't matter that my bill was way higher then last year and I had a inground pool running last year, I asked them to come out and check the meter and they wouldn't even think of that, they say there is nothing wrong with their smart meter ever.

After several mailings and e-mails I decided to sign up for the peak power savings program. What a nightmare it has been. Two individuals arrived appearing to be sub contracted to hook up the device. They slid my unit out, and screwed into my siding the device to control my AC. The first time I we went to use our AC the following spring 2019 it was not blowing cold. We had to call a service who said our refrigerant was low. We paid over $200 to get it fixed.

Consumers had a subcontractor clear cut trees in the name of line management. But they left all the stumps for me to deal with. It was on the edge of a field that the trees were removed. So now that the trees are removed I would like to make the "best of it" and mow the area. I called them a couple times asking when they would remove the stumps. "Consumers does not remove the stumps" they said. I asked them for a check so I can rent equipment to do it. "We don't do that either" I was told.

Annitra answered the phone and I could hear her on the line. She didn't respond to my hellos until I figured I was having bad cell reception and almost hung up. She did get her job done. However if I had the option I would not deal with there condescending attitudes. My questions were ignored, so long as she got the steps to her job completed she was ready not to help any further than that.

At 2:30pm I realized my furnace had not run on 1/16/2019 since earlier that day. I called the 888-221-4429 number to place a service claim. I finally got a call back from Air Comfort at 3:14, and they wanted to schedule a service call the following morning. NOT THAT NIGHT. In January, with claims of 24/7 response, I feel I should have had a service that same night. I called Consumers back to switch service suppliers, they said that they "WOULD NOT". I had been paying for the service contract since 2011, and felt that I deserved more prompt response.

I had a new whole house generator installed in March 2019 and communicated with Consumers Energy the need for an upgraded meter. At that time they told me it would be coordinated at the time of my generator installation. Much to my dismay, it is now September 2019 and the project is still not done. Without getting into all the grim details, suffice it to say this organization needs a course on communication skills. Even though each representative that I spoke to was friendly and courteous, there was a complete breakdown of communication between design, installation, and restoration. They must have wasted thousands if not tens of thousands on the job due to lack of leadership and organizational skills.

Kevin the gentleman who works for Consumers Energy was so amazing. He discussed what the reason he was at our house. Explained in detail. Beyond polite. And had genuine concern for our safety. We appreciate Consumers Energy and the employees who do an amazing job representing your company. Thank you. Keep up the great service that you provide.

The amount being a charger for electric and the response time on a power outage almost 24 hours later our area hasn't even been a success. If I had the choice I would never have Consumers Energy ever. The amount of money that we pay our service should have been repaired hours ago. OUR AREA HAS NOT BEEN ASSESSED EVEN YET!! WTF IS THE HOLD UP!! They'd rather be up restoring it in the woods instead of in a residential area! We pay enough to have thousands out fixing our power issues. This company is not prepared for **. You suck Consumers Energy. Worst powerservice ever!!!!

I've had the unfortunate experience of having Consumers Energy since 2002. The power goes out consistently so much that I have been given a credit due to the frequency of the outages. Their engineers are incompetent. Their phone system is intentionally difficult to navigate. They spent 43.5 million dollars on political campaigns but can't keep the power on. Call the Michigan Public Service Commission and file complaints and get this company as much as you can.

I built my home alongside of Consumers Energy power lines and bought property across the road that the same lines cross. We had a fire a couple of weeks ago caused by a tree falling on the wires, fortunately the DNR, FD and Consumers Energy responded quickly and limited the damage to a couple of acres. Consumers quickly sent out a crew from Asplundh to remove any other threats. Also would like to thank Asplundh for sending out a great crew (Dan ** and Mike his supervisor). They were very respectful of me and my property.

Updated on 11/11/2021: Had the forestry department come out and dot trees to be cut or trimmed by the power lines a few years ago. I talked with him and told him the trees bending over the line will snap. I was told I was a fool and that they are hardwoods and will not snap. February 2019 with the ice storm.... Took out the pole, transformer, ripped the mast off my home, and set my home on fire. Battled it out with the insurance company who gave me $.50 on the dollar to replace everything that was damaged. I complained to the BBB and on this site. I got a nice man from Hudsonville contact me and I told him they are responsible for anything 13 feet on either side of the wire and poles. He wanted proof. So I took a tape measure and measure the first tree at 6 feet from the pole.

Energy has always been somewhat expensive but ever since we've gotten our smart meter our bills have gone through the roof. Bills have been so expensive that we shut all of our power off during the day in the summer and our bills are still over $200 a month! A few months ago our bills were significantly smaller so we just assumed that our prayers had been answered and they were finally charging a fair amount for the electricity we were using.

Consumers cut down trees on our property that could have just been trimmed. They took them right down to the ground. Effectively destroying our windbreak. Then they want us to turn down the heat. Lmao. Um no. I won't do anything to help this company out after the disregard they showed me.

They must not want their money until they get to ** you with fees. To begin, I am not from this state. I was under the impression DTE was our gas and Electric. Nope. Six months in this place not a single bill. Landlord hasn’t said anything to us. Power worked fine. One day power was off called DTE boom... They aren’t our provider for electric. Imagine that. SIX MONTHS LATER.

Twice we called regarding our outage. One person told us that's what homeowner's insurance is for, the other one told us to go buy a generator. We have reported a particular spot on our street that is problematic. It is the same spot every time we lose power where they fix it. Obviously it requires maintenance. 7 people were told. Still no resolution.

Had a Smart meter installed in April 2018. I have both autopay and no paper bills so haven't paid any attention to my Consumer's Energy costs until yesterday. To my horror, the readings have remained the same since the installation. Contacted Consumers and was told that a meter reader had come out in December 2018, my guess is that they knew at that time that there was something amiss. Well, guess what? It's is February 2019 and the meter today still shows the same reading from April 2018! When I called they said that they will see why the meter isn't transmitting the readings and that they will "work with me" regarding the billing. I was trying to look online at my detailed bills from 2017 and they are not available, only the amount paid. More reasons for me to start up paper bills once again.

My electrical usage has skyrocketed since Smart Meter installed. Found out the Meter they installed in Oct. was defective when Nov. reading was 4 times the average usage. I went to the Meter on the house to confirm what they say was an actual read and the Meter was blank. Called Consumers and they tried to ping it for a reading and it would not read. They replaced meter but estimated another 400 reading. They tell me there was no defective meter - it worked just not on my end. This is absolute robbery, we have no way to check them. They can charge whatever they want and we pay or they shut off power. This has got to be stopped. Get rid of Smart Meters - they are tools used to capitalize.

Our bill has increased by about 40% since the smart meter was installed, but that's not even the worst of the problems. My ears have been ringing for weeks, my 7 year old son suddenly has asthma. My 8 year old daughter is suddenly getting headaches. Our 8 year old neighbor is also suddenly getting headaches. I have a chronic pain condition that has gotten worse recently. Overall, the health of my family has decreased dramatically since the smart meter has been installed.

Consumers Energy has stopped with new pole setting for over two years at my property. Today, last weekend of deer season & I have guys & trucks setting poles on my property. They never said anything about starting the work again. Two years ago when here last a worker decided to crap in my yard. Three of us here walked through the human crap & destroyed our boots! I talked to the foreman minutes after this happened with the proof still on our pants & boots. He made his worker clean up the spot where he crapped. I can say this company has been a joke on all matters with my property! Very inconsiderate, trashed my boots & pants, ruined my deer season & have heard nothing back from customer service about my replacement of boots two years & waiting! I would give them a zero if able! What a joke!

Single mom. Still no power in the middle of winter! I subleased a place and went to have the electric put in my name, Consumers Energy shut the power off and had yet to turn it back on! Their reason is that the previous tenants didn’t pay their bill!! I have nothing to do with the previous tenants! They don’t live here. I have no outstanding bills and have turned in all lease agreements and proof I have nothing to do with the previous tenants, and still nothing! It’s three weeks before Christmas and consumers has left my 7 year old and I without power for five days!!

New gas meter installed today 11-15-2018. Took gas meter read after installer left - did not see meter read before installation. For 15 days gas use we are at 4.6 cf. For the past 3 years I have been averaging 5.8 cf for this time of year. It looks like I am headed toward 9.2 cf doing the math. This is almost double - something is definitely not right. We will have to see actual bill/readings come Dec. 3, 2018. Does not look good.

Not so smart, smart meters: We moved into this farmhouse almost 3 years ago, We have Consumers Energy as our electric supplier. We are on a limited income so we were put on a budget program in which we paid a set amount monthly. Consumers has put one of their smart meters on our house and our energy has skyrocketed. When I use their energy calculator, it says we should have a conservative bill of approx. $150 per month, well it's over $1.k. We asked for another meter and were turned down, they have our bill at over 6k now and say pay by Dec.7 or will be disconnected. We have a new TV, a stove, dryer, fan, water pump, electric water heater. We have a garage with only a radio, pasture without a fencer plugged in, no reason for this high of a bill but we can not get them to see what's the problem and may be forced to move.

I had gas turned on (New Service start) 7/30/2018. I was billed twice and I had paid both bills. When the temperatures started going down, I turned on the heat but only cold air was blowing. I called Consumers Energy and the representative I spoke with informed me that they had mailed a letter to me requesting for my ID and since they did not get anything from me they disconnected service. The representative said someone will be in touch with me and they will restore service within 2-3 days. I called Consumers Energy and spoke to Randy who said he will set appointment with the technician on 10/24/18 and that I will get a call 20 minutes before they come out.

I just moved into a new home. I called Consumers Energy on Monday 10/22/2018 to set up a time to have someone come out and turn on my heat because my MOVE IN date was 10/23/2018. I spoke with a lady that afternoon and she set me up an account and informed me I could have someone come out to my house on 10/23/2018 between 12 and 4p (Something of that timeframe). She even gave me a confirmation number.

Good morning, I'm not sure where to start, I order the appliance protection program back in June. I have made 2 payments with this program. I called Sunday morning to have someone come out and look at my central air unit. But there was a mess up with my account which was fixed and they were supposed to have some call me to have my 15 day waiting period waive due to the mistake on whoever enter my account. Never got a call until 4 pm yesterday from a Consumers worker name Paul to look at my AC unit. I never had an appointment but he said he would come look at it and put the new part in that I just bought for it.

On Tuesday June 26, James came to my home to assess for energy efficiency. Friends and acquaintances had told me about the energy assessments but I never scheduled one. When I received the notice in the mail to schedule the visit, I did so. Best decision I've made. James was professional and provided education for saving energy that was understandable to the lay person and the suggestions were not over the top expensive and something I can do on my own.

Consumers Energy installed new gas lines to all residents of St Clair Shores MI. They showed ill regard to my home when they performed their work last fall. There were 4 broken sprinkler heads, some of my landscaping were damaged, and large chunks of clay from the ground were tossed over a professionally landscaped front yard. The worst is yet to come. I now get water in my basement directly in the area where they dug. This never happened until they came on my property. I am worried about the mold that is accumulating behind the drywall of a finished basement. Conveniently, Consumers Energy is not accepting any responsibility. I learned that this has happened to another resident on my street and they have also been declined. I want justice! Their carelessness is much more than this. But my water damaged basement with each heavy rain is a huge concern. They need to own this.

My gas meter was shut off. I had no idea why. I didnt even realize it at first. I noticed some things not working. I tried fixing several things then finally realized the gas was shut off. I double checked that I paid my bill. I had. I am on auto pay. So we thought maybe the neighborhood kids were messing around. We turned it back on ourselves. We had no notification on our door that there was an issue. Fast forward on our way to work the next morning we found a green tag in our driveway from Consumers Energy that our gas had been shut off. No reason why.

Bills are misleading... if you over pay and are on the budget plan, your bill will show a credit where one doesn't even exist... By the time all is said and done your final bill on budget plan could potentially be 3 times your normal fee. Customer service and its "supervisor" ** are EXTREMELY CONDESCENDING. Guess I pay the 342 because Consumers is a monopoly...no other gas company to choose from.

An absolute scam. I am being charged 3x what I was charged last year. There has been no changes in the household. If anything, I have tried harder to use LESS electricity and this is the result. I now owe $450 to consumers, with this month showing as "on track" to be the same. Absolutely ridiculous. They need to be investigated.

Our electric bills have more than doubled with the smart meter! We aren't even home most of the time and our bill is $230 just for electric. The excuse Consumers gave me was that my appliances run harder during bad weather... What? Why was this never an issue before?!? They are not doing anything to help us. We are on an extremely tight budget and this hurts.

Ridiculous! Supposedly the rental home had 3 issues that it showed someone tampered with it. One before the electricity was turned on and 2 when it was on and in my name between tenants. They won't check to see if the neighbors electric was turned off. They won't do anything but tell me I have to pay a $129 bill! This monopoly of a company is ridiculous! Fraudulently charging people and told me that if I wanted proof I could subpoena them for their records! WTH? The "Smart" meter is outside on the side of the house clearly it makes no sense for landlord to mess with a house that is empty with the power on and in their name.

I moved into a 795 sq. ft. apartment in February and February's bill was almost $300. The highest I've had this thermostat is 70 degrees and ever since I got this bill I've kept it in between 66-68 degrees and it's still going to be almost $200 estimated. I don't buy that this is a weather issue at all. I've talked to others and saw the other reviews on here. Consumers Energy needs to look at their practices because something is wrong with what they are doing. Unacceptable.

The rate cost is so high, a person can't have the home warm during winter months. You have to have a blanket wrap around you just to keep warm because you're on a very limited income to live on every month.

It’s ok just the way it is, I’ve got no complaints on the company. They always come out to do their job no matter what it takes day or night and it don’t matter what time it is.

Consumers Energy is very helpful to me. I receive a report each month that compares my energy used to those around me and rates the amount of energy I use.

Yesterday, we got the smart meter installed in our house from consumers energy, and since then, I am having trouble with the wifi, this creates problems as I work from home some days... has anyone has his problem too? I am also reading in the internet the potential health issues with the smart meters (as apparently, they emit strong burst of radiofrequency every few seconds all the time)... anyone has more information about this? Besides the potential health issues, the security risk and the interference with wifi and other electronics, it seems that many people is complaining with bills coming 3-4 times higher than past winters... why are we the consumers obligated to use this system, and how can we remove it?

They came out when we needed service and fixed everything. That was a great thing to have happen. I feel better about them since then. We have been with them a while now and plan on staying.

My utility company is Consumers Energy. I live on a fixed income and sometimes I get behind in my bill and when I do, I've always gotten a solution to solve my problem. They have many options to choose from, makes life easier for the people who live on fixed incomes.

After finding my bill was impossibly almost 3Xs higher than my winter normal (I am almost never home and Cons. only provides my electric), I called. They chalked it up to weather and every time I countered their statements, another obvious load of steaming crap was pulled from the pile of scripts. When I was told I have a smart meter, I pointed out the recent issues surrounding them. That was apparently the final straw because she did not even try to change her reasonings. It was my fault for having the heat too high (UNDER 70° 80% of the day, at most 71° the rest of the short time) and the cold temps. Oh, and only 2 1/2 weeks into the billing month, apparently my next bill is ALREADY AT ALMOST FOUR TIMES MY WINTER NORMAL! This month has been twice as warm as last!

I requested a smart meter not be installed but they installed it anyway. My bill has increased. My daughter and son moved out and the bill has more than doubled. My house is 1050sq ft and my bill is $509 for two months. I have DTE gas and this is more than July when we ran the air because of record heat.

3-4 years ago I bought a home from an out of state investor and we sent them the money and they gave us the combination to the lock on the door. They told us to have the water turned on but the power was left on as a courtesy. Come to find out the water service line was busted and the company knew about it so we moved. Now 3 years later after getting ahead by 2 months on my Consumers bill to be ready for layoff I'm booted off the protection plan and told I'm gonna get turned off in 2 weeks for an illegal turn on. I have 2 small children in my home and no income due to layoff. I did not hook it up nor do I know how. I'm not an electrician. Then when asking for the date it was hooked up they gave me a ten month span of time. They won't let me make payments or postpone it long enough to fight it.

After installing the "smart meter" our bill has steadily increased. We spent $$$ on energy saving bulbs for all the lights and keep the propane heat at 62 and the bill just keeps rising. We need another choice for electric.

I've owned my house for 4 years and NEVER has an electric bill over 250. This month it was $650. I called and asked about it and the women told me I was a liar and I used the most energy on Christmas Day. I WASN'T EVEN HOME CHRISTMAS DAY. She then again called me a liar and said her computer doesn't lie. I stated that they could add my previous 2 bills up and they still wouldn't total $650 and her reply was, "Well this was the coldest month we have had in years and years." Guess I didn't realize that it never gets cold in Michigan except for this year huh. Ever since they put these smart meters on, my bill went up but nothing like this. I only heat 2 rooms in a small ranch style house, no possible way this bill should be this high but what makes me the maddest is the fact that the customer service won't even attempt to help. Absolutely ridiculous.

I called Consumers this morning to find out why our bill has more than doubled since the smart meter was installed. Was told we have electric heaters and an oxygen tank and an electric fireplace. First of all we don't, but even if we did how would they know that? Disturbing, I told her we didn't have those things, and she got very rude telling me we were using almost 4,800 kw and we are being charged 4.77 per kw for distribution which totaled to be 226 on top of our bill for 436.

Consumers Energy is a joke. They charged me $530 Dollars for one month. Constant complaints, and overcharging customers. Yet nothing is done to help the public. We need to demand a investigation. This goes on far too often. So many customer complaints, how are they still able to run like this.

You guys are crooks. How can my bill jump over $200 in one month? I have lived in my home for 14 years and it's always been consistent until last month. I along with everyone else in the area you are ** need an explanation.

We have lived in our home for two years and just received a bill that was 150 more than any other bill we have ever had. No explanation other than the cost of getting the power to the consumer has gone up and when asked if it’s from the new smart meters they wouldn’t comment or even acknowledge the question.

I recently bought my first home and I called consumers to have my service transferred. They requested that I fax over notarized copies of my license, social security card, and proof I purchased the home. I had to send fax them 4 different times because they said it wasn't good enough. I have been calling them almost every day and the one time I called they got me for $600 from a bill owed 6 years ago that just happened to show up on my account. Now they're telling me that they can’t accept my proofs and called me a liar saying I am not who I say I am.

Shut my power off by accident and said it was even their fault, but kick me off payment plan anyway! Finally came out and turned it back on for me but then 4 days later I get a letter in the mail saying that they wanted me to pay over $5,000 within 2 weeks or they were going to shut it off.

1. Consumers billed us for months, somehow with no account set up, while we were in a temporary home due to a tree falling on our house. When we tried to pay, we couldn't because they had no account to for us to accept payment. 2. Most winter months show usage between $0-$5 - in Michigan. 3. They gave us a payment plan of $900/mth plus usage that, knowingly, we could not meet. 4. They would not review our erroneous billings. 5. I have 4 children - 2 of which are ill. 6. I am a Karmanos client. 7. We are poverty level. 8. They will not turn our heat back on or help us.

Completely ** over charging me, on bills I already paid. Only sent 2 bills claimed they sent 3. Was enrolled in a payment plan and was told today I was deferred out of it, wasn't even 24 hours late on a bill and was charged over $20. People are rude and no help, I paid over $40 extra and still got slapped with a statement of overdue by $63 when the bill was originally only $72. I paid $23 then $25 then $41 on the installment dates now claiming I owe $63+ in overdue fees.

First snow of the year 2017, October 31. Power outage 2hrs??? It's 1pm in Mancelona, MI. Men communicate with satellites past Mars, Consumers Ele. CAN'T find the switch for electricity for our homes. People with life or death issues in the home are screwed. Hope life insurance policies are paid up. Scientists need to replace these IDIOTS that run the Electric Co. SHAMELESS **.

They have put off twice hooking up our natural gas. Both times they have promised it would be done and now they are telling us next year. They will not return calls and they have already cashed our check. The only time they have called is when they have a person contact us that has no authority. We have registered a complaint with them and still no response. Totally disgusted and time to contact our state representative.

Just contacted MPSC. Consumers Energy should be ashamed of themselves. 900 sf home $180 bill. I'm tired of paying this. Costs. Charge for making electricity. Charge for delivering. Charge for billing. Charge for low income. Charge for Plant Sanitization. Charge for programs that they tell me I cannot participate in because I don't have gas with them. Then let's tax all this. EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE OPTIONS... Was told I do not. They are the only ones who supply electricity to my home. Looks like they can do what they want.

My husband and I moved and called to transfer service to our new place. We were living with friends in a rental. 8 months later we get a $586 bill "for our convenience", they never shut off gas at old place so they just stuck us with 8 months of a water heater running. Place has since sold and landlord disappeared and out of touch. DTE changed their system so we cannot get last light bill from friends to show even that was shut off as well. They will not respond to questions like "Why was it on and unpaid for EIGHT months before being caught? Anyone else would be cut off after two" and "I know you can tell it's the same amount every month and the usage is WAY lower compared to the year before". When I asked "Why would we leave the gas on in an empty house where no one lives". I'm told "People do all kinds of things for all sorts of reasons".

I'm wondering how it's legal for consumers energy to install a smart meter on our home, without our permission, and now want to charge us $123.91 to remove it, not to mention an extra fee per month to have the old meter read. These meters are not safe, there are all kinds of health hazards associated with them, as well as a fire hazard... This is like highway robbery, and they're getting away with it. Shouldn't they have had to ASK us if we wanted one of these meters BEFORE installing it when we weren't even home?

Since we have had the "Smart Meter" our bill has doubled. I had a 20 minute conversation on how it must be us using more energy and no real answers. We have not changed our habits from one month to the other. We use the AC very seldom and they told me that has to be what's drawing so much energy. I smell BS and will have this meter replaced with the old one ASAP. Consumers should be ashamed at what they are doing.

This morning I called Consumers Energy regarding my recent light bill. First representative said she would have to give to another representative so I was transferred. Jenn the one that took my call was very rude. When I asked her name she said Jenn and spelled it out rudely. When I asked her last name she said she did not give out her last name. I asked to speak with her supervisor and she said the supervisor would give me the same information she had just given me.

I have never dealt which such inhumane prejudice in my life. Consumers Energy are very fraudulent in everything they do. Bills continuously go up. You're forced to pay any amount when you know what your bill should be even after you try to lower it. By not using light in the daytime. Buy energy efficient lights, new windows and all but you never see any real results. I cannot wait to move away from Michigan just to avoid dealing with consumers. They literally rape your pockets and it's so unfair. I can honestly say I wish Lawyers would investigate this company as a whole. They are shady with their dealings. Worst company in the world to deal with.

My gas bill has almost doubled with the 'free new meter'. I'm using much less gas because of summer. I'm hanging laundry outside, using little to no heat. This is price gouging customers for a 'free new meter installation'. An investigation needs to be done - now.

I have a 78 year old living with me and Consumers wants to shut us off and no agency can help us at this time. They have no mercy on the people. They all money hungry vulture. We fell behind because husband was on medical leave for two months with no pay and we couldn't keep up on payment plan. So now any day we're gonna be turned off. No place to go for help.

Inquiry about service was met with an employee who is fond of raising her voice. Inaccurate information was provided to a 3rd party by the "fraud" department. Accusations of tampering with the meter. People were accused who have no idea what is going on as they never submitted a request for service, let alone tampered with any meter. No communication about bills owed on the house, no calls, no letters from Consumers Energy. My guess? Someone legally obtained services, moved on, and Consumers failed to bill the service properly. SO someone, anyone must PAY. Fraud carries a six year ban. So accusing another party of fraud is particularly cruel and offensive, not to mention immoral. These are unethical people! Fraud being perpetrated by the Fraud department? Anyone else get falsely accused? This only happened when authorities were contacted to talk to CP. Guess that made them mad enough to lie.

Since January CE is saying our usage has nearly tripled since the prior year. The only changes we have made was the installation of LED lights throughout the property. Our furnace, water heater, and range are all gas. Additionally we do not have A/C. Our NG usage dropped since 2016 so cold weather is not the factor. It's obvious we are being overestimated by CE.

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.

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!!

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!!!

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 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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!!!"

I was on a shutoff protection plan of $62 per month. I have made all payments on time each month. The last month I made a payment of $62 on the 15th of the month and another payment of $62 on the 30th of the month. CE told me that any payments applied before the due date would not be credited to the next month's payment. They still expected me to pay my $62 for the next month even though I made a double payment the previous month. Because of this I was told that I defaulted on the SPP. My services were shut off.

For over sixteen years Consumers Energy/CMS was contacted by us regarding a gas leak in my home. Each time a CE/CMS employee came, he walked with his meter around the basement and stated: "NO gas leak, see the meter does NOT show a leak". I asked "Can't you smell the rotten egg/cabbage odor?" and again the CE/CMS employee would state the meter does not show a gas leak and refused to answer my question. They would then add: "Don't worry, the gas won't hurt you." This same thing happened every time they came. I was getting sicker and sicker with many unusual medical problems that Doctors could not diagnose, as the regular tests came back as normal. When you live in the atmosphere of Mercaptan, the rotten egg/cabbage odor, you become immune to the smell.

I had just bought a house that I put all new wiring in and got Consumers Energy. Within the year that I have had them they have done nothing but raise my bill. When asked why they said they had no access to my meter which is not true. I am always home. I have no animals, and you can see it from the road. I would not recommend this company to anyone. To make matters worse, I have three small children and my electric bill is more than all my bills combined. They are saying they will shut off my electric today so when I call the company to try to fix the issue they aren't available. I have called our congressmen, the commission's office, or representative, and senate. Someone needs to start a lawsuit because they don't even tell you that they can estimate your bill or anything and keep changing prices. They need more competition.

While reviewing my Consumers Energy bill which I haven't done (that's my fault) because I am so busy, I couldn't figure out why my bill is always in excess of $150.00 a month. I live in a 700 square feet apartment (at most). I noticed that along with the charge for the use of energy, there is a "Distribution" charge. This Distribution charge is just as much as the energy charge!!! Why does the State of Michigan allow this? I can understand a set monthly distribution charge of maybe $10.00-$15.00, but Consumers charges me from $20.00 to $50.00 (at least) monthly, which is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

I called Consumers Energy to transfer my service to my new address. I could not believe that they told me that I have to pay off my full balance which is 283.25 before I could transfer service in my name. I could not believe that they could do this and this is legal. I sent a email to Consumers and they said "sorry, but you have to pay this before you move." Now what if my bill was more than this small amount. I was not cancelling service just relocation to a better home. Poor people should not be targeted. This is unheard of on the rich part of time.

My wife and I bought a home in late 2013. Our electric meter is fenced in in the backyard, so it's inaccessible to meter readers. Now, this is partly my fault, as I should have been taking the meter readings myself, but from roughly February 2014 to August 2014, our electric bills were extremely low. When I finally realized what was happening, I contacted them to straighten the situation out. Remember, my fault. I expected a spike in payments once the proper readings were given.

I've had Consumers Power for 5 years before I had DTE and never had a bit of problems that I've had with Consumers Power. They have shut me off twice! Both time I had just made a payment 2-3 weeks prior! With this incident I just made a payment 3 weeks ago, then 2 weeks before that then 3 weeks before that then 2 weeks before that! So it's not like I haven't been paying! They charge me $100 to turn it back on then take days to return my service even tho they say it will be back on in hours! It seems that I'm making payment every 2-3 weeks and I'm still getting shut off! You can't get ahead with this company no matter how hard you try!

As countless others have complained, we are victims of their cost spike. It does not appear that they have installed the new smart meter. Nov was $167, 970 kwh (actual read); $140 in Dec, 762 kwh (estimated, of course); Jan $502, 3230 kwh!!! Last winter was significantly colder and our highest bill was more than $200 less than this. The State of Michigan has continued to allow Consumers Energy to keep their monopoly, but I will be contacting the proper agencies and our representative, nonetheless. I suggest everyone else who has issues with Consumers do the same.

I am being charged by consumers Energy highly amount and have not been home and I need help to confirm this issue. I am disabled and on SSI and how can I get help so that I'm not charge this amount when I wasn't home. I have been with my caregiver three weeks out of the month out of each month so there is no way I all that amount to consumers Energy of Lansing, Michigan. Thank you.

Consumers energy is a shining example of why monopolies are a bad thing. I have had to deal with consumers for most of my adult life and have never had anything but a negative experience. Until recently buying my current home I lived in an apartment, the same apartment for 3 years. My bills were consistently about $75 in the late spring to early fall months and about $150 in the late fall to early spring months. Consumers decided the meters in the complex needed to be replaced.

I moved to a new apartment. The first two months were about 300 kWh. In June 2015, I received a bill for 1083 kWh at a cost of around $150.00. I telephoned Consumer Energy (CE) and complained that it was way too high. They blamed it on a coffee maker and an air purifier that I did not have. In July, 2015, I received a bill for $300, claiming that I used 1786 kWh. They refused to investigate their meter and/or wires to determine why the kWh were increasing. Since they refused still to investigate, I contacted the Michigan Attorney General's office, the Consumer Complaint Division. His office passed that onto the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC). The MPSC regulates Consumer Energy.

Consumers Energy will tell you they will be out between 8 am and 4 pm. Well I take the day off to wait. It is now 4:40 pm and no one has yet to come. I have called them numerous times. They could care less. They gave me a credit. Screw your credit. How about you put it in the gas of a truck, send a man over and turn this crap on? Nope. Well I am about to get my bolt cutters and cut this pansy ** little lock off!

Terrible company. Terrible people. Period. They've shut me off when it was their mistake. They will not work with you at all on anything. I really wish there was some other company so I could happily go with the other company. I'm sure that's partly to blame for Consumers Energy not giving one care about their customers.

I bought this house in 2008, had the power switched to my name. I believe that this was in June. We didn't get to move in right away because of a car accident that ended up hitting a portion of the house that needed to be repaired before moving in. We shut the house up after the repairs sometime in November. We used very little electricity while we waited for the repairs to be done. Only power hand tools and some lights maybe a month's worth of electricity. We finally moved in the following spring April 2009. I received a electric bill for over $5000.00.

After a divorce situation I bought a new home. I closed my account with Consumers Energy on Aug. 7th, 2015 & opened a new account at my new address. When I closed the account to my old home on Aug. 7th, it had a $0.00 balance. On Sept 22nd, I received a call from Consumers Energy that I owed them $990.68 & they were going to be sending me to collections. I had not received anything from them about this until the 22nd & they are sending me to collections & I had a $0.00 balance as of Aug 7th?! They said that is was because they had to estimate a couple months due to my dog being outside & this was the actual amount due. Looking back through all the paper work they estimated my bill for 17 months!!!

I'm selling my house and it's been vacant for a little over two months now. I paid $107 for August and then received an "estimated usage" bill for September for $321.00! I went to the payment center in Lansing to ask/complain about the amount and the customer service rep behind the window explained that it was an estimate and told me NOT to pay the bill and to read the meter and call in the numbers myself. So, I read the meter and tried for two days to call them in. Impossible to get through so I tried to email and couldn't make an account.

We woke up to find our power had been shut off. The house isn't ours, but we paid the bill anyhow because we have a toddler and my husband is a diabetic with insulin that needs to be refrigerated. Consumers Energy said they would be out today to get the power back on and they never showed! All my daughter's milk is now bad. Not to mention all the food in the freezer that is now soggy. They truly don't care about their customers. I have never had this much trouble from an electric company in my life.

Shutting people off when they have PROOF that they paid their bill! We were going to get online like he said we needed to and print the bill off because a receipt from Walmart isn't good enough, and he shut it off so I couldn't print off the proof from their website. Finally got to the bottom of it, after being told 3 different amounts I needed to pay to turn my power back on because I can't go without power with a 2 month old, it was over $400 and the recording to call when you find out account info said I wasn't due to pay a payment until the week AFTER all this happened. Awful, awful, awful customer service. The guy that came out to shut the power off told me he didn't care that I had a newborn in the house. Way to go consumers, can't wait for a new power company because you WILL NOT get any more of my money. You're the worst company ever.

I received a notice from Consumer Energy. They were going to be installing a smart meter. Nowhere in the notice did it provide information I could opt out. When I contacted them inquiring about I was told yes I could for a fee. I asked if the fee would be waived if a person had a valid health issue with possible increased RF's, I was advised no. Even if there was doctor's verification. I asked if a person had religious beliefs against the use of SMART technology would the fee be waived. I was told no. I do not feel this is fair business practice. No reduction in fees are going to be issued for allowing a "smart" meter but a fee is going to be installed to change equipment that only benefits the company. Not everyone is able to or wants to access their information online. Not everyone is able to afford a $70 opt-out fee and an increase to their month bill by $9.72. This is taking advantage of the public.

Consumers Energy came into my yard and butchered my maple tree. When I called to speak to them they told me it is their right to kill my tree. Who made this law? Where is this law written?

Last October 2014, a woman in Consumers Billing department told me I had to pay 375.00 to get my power turned back on. I paid the 375.00, the power was turned on, then I started getting bills from 2011. I called their Billing and found out the woman opened up a new account in my name and they are transferring all my billing from my old account to a new account. After getting 97 bills on this new account totaling $10800.97, I got a turn-off notice. I call, they spoke with Jennifer in Billing and said it was a mistake, that all my billing had be transferred but none of my payments had been transferred, and she would stop the turn-off.

So Last year at this exact time, Consumers Energy sent us a 1,100+ bill for the month of July. They told us it went up because our previous bills were estimated (we had just bought this house a few months prior). Anyway I kindly told them that is not the case, because on our bill and online it shows that our energy usage had skyrocketed for only that month, and the recent bills all stated "Your usage is based on an actual meter reading." Psh okay, this was a 3 month long struggle. So a representative sent a worker to read out meter then had us call back a few days later, She told us "There was a mistake on their end and they would send our new corrected bill out Asap." We get our new bill and it's the same price! So then I called back, and that man says "Well, do you remember the woman's name who told you this? Or who was sent out to check your meter? Because she was wrong."

My niece owns her house had abusive boyfriend served papers. She had to leave per police advice and go to shelter. While She waits for ex-boyfriend to get out, She called Consumers and they switched her, the owner of the house off the bill and put it in the ex-boyfriend's name. This is wrong. How dare they take her name off her account at her home and give ex-boyfriend an account so he can stay longer. Cops are working to get this abusive man out but Consumers Energy is only concerned about money not rights of the home owner. I will spread the word about how Consumers Energy really treats their customers.

I can Believe what Consumers Power did to everyone!!! Ten years ago on first of June Consumers owed me $850 so I ask them to return my $850 and the female on the phone told me she couldn't send me only $450 back the rest was my Home Heating Credit. Now here is the funny thing. I hadn't filed my Home Heating Credit for that year yet. So how could they have something I hadn't filed yet or did they have my Home Heating Credit from the September before and had been collecting Credit for it almost a year later.

In seven years I have been in contact with Consumers Energy and given them my correct phone number three times. Last week they managed to inform me via mail that I was signed up for an appliance contract that I had agreed to with them on the phone on June 26th 2015. After I called them to find who they spoke with they gave me the number they called and I realized that my old number was still in their system. Intelligence of an APPLE!!! Not only did these idiots call my old number and allow someone else to agree and set up an appliance contract in my name. They actually called me back three days later and denied ever calling and speaking with anyone at my old number and denied anyone using my information to fraudulently obtain a yearly contract. Either these idiots are completely incompetent, completely ignorant or they have the intelligence of an APPLE.

I live in the smallest single wide trailer I believe they make which is 12ft x 60ft. It has two very small bedrooms, a small bathroom and hallway leading out to a 10ft x 30ft kitchen / dining area / living room space up front. Well I use both bedrooms for storage & sleep on a couch up front in the living room. So I only go in the back half to shower and use the bathroom or to do laundry which is ion the bathroom. Otherwise I do not heat or air condition the entire back half. I have three heavy blankets on the hallway divider so the air conditioner in the front or thermostat for the heat is effected by the back half. When I first moved in 7 years ago my bill averaged $70 a month for the year. That was when I used the entire space of the trailer and ran two air conditioners in the back and front which were 10,000 BTU'S & 8,000 BTU'S.

I got behind on my bill that is on me. Sent a payment plan. I had to pay 1431.00 in two weeks. I put aside car payments, credit card payments to hold up my promise. I still had a balance of 480.00 which I understood. Had to pay it by 6/12/2015. Before that I got a shut off notice while still in May. Called, they took care of it. Told me to pay it by 6/16/2015. Due to the fact that I have other bills was going to pay it on 6/26/2015. They shut me off on 6/22/2015 so in less than a month after paying 1431.00, so now I have to pay 645.00 to get my service on. This is so wrong. People should not have to give everything they make to keep a service on. So now I will have paid over 2000.00 dollars in a month period. So wrong. You suck.

I have been receiving my bill and reading on the paperwork and it says actual reading. I did throw them away. Last month's for April said estimate, May's bill came in for 4,231 dollars. When I called them they said they have been estimating for 7 months, and even adding up for 7 months at 400$ does not come up to that amount, plus I have been given them at least 250 a month. They are treating me like the Mafia ripping me off and making me pay it.

I own rental property, knows that renters are constantly trying to stick you with their bills. 2010 I had a renter run Mineo and Consumers in my name of over $1000. I contacted Consumers Energy with the renter and at the rim renters request interval was transferred to her name and out of mine. Fast forward 5 years Consumers sends me a notice that I owe over $1000 for that bill on the rental home. I called Consumers Energy 1h06,1 lady named ** looked up the bill and found all the notes where it had been transferred to the renter named ** and assured me she would take care of it and get back to me.

Attempted from May 4th til present time complying of what was requested. From paying $74.00 on 3/8, on 3/11/2015 date posted another, payment forwarded sometime approximately 1st-2nd week of April. This same year another $74.00 between 5/28-5/30/2015. Have no where else to turn. Haven't heard from specialist prior to filling out the last SER form. Now the gas will be disconnected sometime tomorrow 6-05-2015. Reference # **, acct **. ** owner of account. I am the representative payee.

Have had appliance coverage for many years with no claims. Made a claim in Nov. 2014 for furnace repair over 500$ was approved and done. Wanted to cancel insurance April 2015. Because I had a claim, they refused cancellation for 1 year.

Why do I have to pay for zero gas used? Consumers stealing money again. :(

Consumers Energy has claimed they are here to help. Let me tell you what they are pulling and if I know a good attorney, I would check into suing their butts. They told me to fill out paperwork for their CARE program. I did. I hadn't heard anything and called Consumers to talk to them about my bill on April 1. At that time I was told I'm on the CARE program and that if I didn't pay a certain amount, I would be kicked off. I paid the said amount by April 3 and then told to pay another amount by April 20th. I did exactly what they said. I call yesterday to find what I owe and I'm told I was taken off the CARE program April 1 and I had been put on in January. I had paid almost $500 in April that was suppose to bring me up-to-date. Now I'm told I'm behind again when I should just owe 65% of May's bill. But now they want another $200. How is this helping their customers?

Moved into a home and have to wait for identity verification. We haven't had gas on, no way to cook, or shower. We are a family of 5 with 3 young kids. One had to miss school because she's filthy. This needs to be resolved today. Please get them help!

Last winter we received out of control, large power bills. We ended up having to drain all of our funds for 2 months just to pay them. It was over $3,000 in power bills for the 4 or 5 winter months, 2 of those months our well pump went out and we weren't even using any of those high usage appliances like a water heater or washer and dryer. Apparently the previous owners reported to them that they had electric heat and I am asked about this every time I call. We aren't stupid, we use a wood stove to heat our house. NOT the electric old baseboard that is in the home.

We came home today to discover that Consumers had driven down our driveway and onto our yard to put in a pole for our neighbor's service. We do not know why they were giving him a new pole and we do not know why they thought they could put huge ruts on our property when his own property is perfectly accessible from the road. We did not give them permission. We have had numerous problems with that neighbor and suspect he told them we would not mind. Is that all they need to trespass and destroy our property? That is totally unprofessional. They should have stayed on his property. It was perfectly available.

Tired of distribution charge and unnecessary fees. Every month I am charged almost the same amount as my monthly energy usage in distribution fees. Add in other taxes and fees and my bill runs very high. Tired of Consumers Energy getting away with screwing people over.

My bill came today and it was double what I expected. I turned off all my water heaters, pump heater and everything required to keep me going through winter, on the last meter read date. My bill should have fallen to almost 1/2. I saw the meter reader guy here, he read my meter. Then I got a bill that said my bill was estimated and it is the same amount as the previous months which was quite high. I feel they are practicing fraud. The man was here, he read my meter. I tried calling today, was on the phone for an aggravating 45 minutes playing with their robo machine answered before I found out they could not help me today. I am furious. He was here... saying my power was estimated is a lie. Why are they cheating like this. My bill is listed in my home phone of **. I was afraid of getting spam calls if I put it in the menu.

I feel it is very crazy how consumers want there money to shut your service on but can't give you an appointment to turn your service on. They will give you a 9 hrs span to be home - unfair, and they need to fix that. They have a very angry customer and service rep are no help.

We have a small house and I do all the things they tell us to conserve energy. Our bill has been fairly moderate for our usage. Then suddenly we are getting estimated bills for 3 of the past 4 months and they are just getting ridiculous in the amounts. Our Dec. bill was estimated at a lower rate than our actual Aug. usage! Then when they actually read the meter in Jan. it was higher for that reason. I get that... What I do not accept was what happened in Feb (estimated at twice the usage compared to previous year) and I was reading our meter to keep track of our actual usage. So I paid them for what we used.

Consumers Energy of Flint Michigan has been underestimating my gas and electric bill by their admission for the last 2 months. My bill had been about $230.00. Now my latest bill is $899.00. This is because they wouldn't send out their employees to read meters because of weather conditions, and when they finally did, the actual usage was more. I don't mind paying for what I use but why should I have to pay for someone else's laziness. When I called the Michigan Public Service Commission, all I got was a rep from Consumers Energy offering to put me on a payment plan and a $50.00 rebate. This is outrageous and I'm sick of having to deal with CRIMINALS who just take as much money as they want with no recourse for consumers.

Need a furnace. Consumers energy technician blew my furnace up and consumers refuse to pay when they put 8 people's lives in danger including 3 kids and 3 animals. My sister in law was injured - suffered 1st and second degree burns. She was taken to a burn unit, placed in an incubator because she suffered seizures every five minutes. She was taken to u of m hospital for three days. The tech lit a gas leak furnace when the consumers energy red tagged it to not be lit but they never told me it was red tagged and the tech who came out - he was here for a gas leak in the meter not the furnace.

I moved this winter and stopped my old service but I still got billed for it. After having a lengthy call with them in Jan to make sure it was stopped they assured me it was and told me it was back dated to Jan first, but they said they wouldn't go all the way back to December 1st since they claim I never asked to stop the service. I paid the bill for December and I thought that was that until I got billed again for Jan. They said I never called in Jan and gave me the same run around about how they couldn't back date the service and that I would have to pay the bill. The service is supposedly stopped now but I feel like I'll probably get an end up having to pay that too. This is by far the worst service I have ever gotten and I can't believe a word they say anymore. From now on I won't hang up without a confirmation number and the name of the employee I talked to! Wish I owned the home so I could switch to a different company! :(

I purchased an appliance repair plan with Consumer Energy and when I needed to use it, it was a disaster. They didn't show the first time, then when they came, they said that stackable washer and dryers were not covered. Then when I called to cancel the contract since it didn't even cover the appliance, they said that it wasn't true and they would come back out. They didn't show. I called and they told me that the repairs would be too high. Cancelled. Don't waste your money on a lousy contract.

I'm on disability. I pay 100 a month on my bill every month. My bill reached 325. Without warning they shut my power off at 10 in the morning with temps at -1. Didn't turn me back on till 330 pm - lucky for me same day. Made payment of 285 on 325 bill due today and still owe 295$. They say they called 3 times. Check phone, yes they called once today and left message. Didn’t receive shut off. They tell me to deal with the mail man - must be his fault. Ask to speak to supervisor, they are in meeting. 4:00 - still no call. I pay every month when my check comes in. It’s always late because I don't get paid till the third bill comes on 5th so get charged 4 to 5$ a month late charge, and this is how they treat you.

This company is terrible. First they destroyed some of my property while cutting trees some of which were off the easement. They cut through certified wetland on my property and left 2 foot deep trenches from their trucks. And refuse to actually fix it. Now they send me a way underestimated bill when there was no reason not to come read the meter. Then they send me a bill almost twice the normal amount because of it. I am very unhappy with this monopoly of a company.

I live in an APARTMENT. A ONE bedroom. With just me and my boyfriend. We turn lights off, unplug things, and pay close attention to what we use. (On a tight budget, so it's definitely a priority.) We just moved in December 1st. From then until January 3rd, my bill was $165.25. Can anyone tell me HOW! I called consumers and all they said was "You obviously used that much energy." Ummm, I don't think so! Any help or input will be much appreciated!

On Jan. 3, 2015, I received my bill and it jumped up $30.00 per month. This is the budget "plan" that I'm on. So I call to find out what the deal is and I talked to a person who was quick to transfer me over to another dept. I told them I "plan" on the amount prior to the $30.00 hike and wasn't notified at all that this was going up. Second, my thermostat does NOT go over 65 degrees. Its lucky it reaches that. Am I cold? Yes, but I can't afford high bills. When talking to a girl named Destiny (phone name?), I asked if we could have someone come out and read the meter again, or if there is a problem somewhere in the house. All she kept saying is that "We base the monthly bill off of last years usage." Well, again, it does NOT go over 65 degrees. I even received money back!!

You have been my energy provider now for over 44 years under 4 different accounts. I have always had great service and paid my bills on time 99.9% of the time. This past November for some reason I do not recall getting a bill and consequently I did not pay for November's service. I received my December bill noting that (Nov. $209.24) was unpaid and now the bill was $556.34 and due on Dec. 29, 2014. I was dumbfounded that I did not pay November's bill. I searched the house looking for that misplaced bill and could not find it nor could I find proof that I paid. So I paid the bill in full ($556.34) the same day I got it (Dec.11, 2014) because I was embarrassed.

It is my opinion that Consumers Energy is priced way too high. How can anyone afford services from them these days? I am also one who is debt with them.. again! The sad part is I shouldn't be. Sending them $300-400 per month is ludicrous but we do it and have been for over a year at least! How in the heck could I owe them over $1,000, and all of sudden too? I have to go to Lansing and sort all this out with a person. There has to be some kind of mistake or error somewhere down the line. Trying to figure it out over phone with a perfect stranger that either cares or doesn't care is a complete nightmare! We have tried this several times. It really just adds to the frustration of it all.

Around Sept/Oct your station did a report on the Consumers' care program. You gave directions to call 211 for information. I called the 211 number and was directed to go to the Consumers' web page and print off the application. Fill it out, then go to Salvation Army, so they could send it in. I printed the app, filled it out, went to salvation army and was told, they were not doing that right now and 211 did not know what they were talking about. So I went home, called 211 back and was told they were behind and to wait a couple of days then go back. So I called 2 days later, I was told at this time there was no one whom I could talk to, call back this afternoon. I did and was told at this time I needed to talk to Jessica. O.k. I left a message with Jessica to call me back. No results. So I called 211 back, they told me I could send it in myself. O.k. So I got all the stuff together what they said I needed, My rent proof, my Consumers bill (up to date as they requested, NO back bill), 1 Proof of income, I sent tax statement and a receipt from my bank saying how much was in there along with the application. I faxed it to them.

I recently received a shut off notice that was dated Nov 13 2014, but I didn't receive it until the 20th. I called to inform Consumers that I could pay $92.00 on the 21st, I was rudely told that I had to pay $364.20 to avoid shut off. They told me not to make any payment unless I had the whole amount. I called back and was told by someone else that there was a hold on my account until midnight on the 24th, and if I can't pay the whole amount by then call back the 25th to see if they can do anything for me. I have ADHD and High Anxiety, and I've informed them of that they don't explain the plan clearly enough for me to understand. I'm frustrated I might not have electric soon, I have a full-time job and my husband works part time and we can't afford to pay the whole amount. Maybe someone reading this can help my family. God Blessed You.

My daughter has 2 small children and works full time, however she only gets paid every 2 weeks. She has been a little behind on her consumers energy bill and has been paying every time she gets her check. Her final payment was due on thursday nov 20th and consumers was going to take the money directly out of her account on friday nov 21st. She came home from work on the 20th to find her gas shut off and when she called the supervisor told her too bad they were not turning it back on until friday the 21st. That's less than 12 hours before they would have had their money. Well, consumers your customer service sucks and how you can do that in the winter months is not right. There are small kids involved here, haven't you had enough bad publicity over elderly people getting the heat shut off and DYING from hypothermia? You got your money just like it was agreed 2 weeks ago, but sometimes it's not about the money, it's about doing the right thing for God's sake. Shame on you!!!!

I was in a domestic violence relationship. Due to all that was going on in my life my ex tampered with the equipment a few times. They charge $1,000 every time someone touch the box. He really trying to make my life bad. I did get somewhat behind on the bill but now it's $4,093 I don't know how I'm going to pay that. They did turn off my gas. It's Been About Four Months No Heat, no HOT WATER. IT IS GOING TO GET REAL COLD. I'M GOING TO CONTACT CHANNEL SIX NEWS, I NEED MY HEAT ON THIS **. IT'S RIDICULOUS.

ON February 23rd, 2014 (yes, it was a Sunday) I called Consumers Energy to have the power to the house taken out of my name beginning March 1st, 2014 because I had to move - I was foreclosed and moving to an apartment. One of the perks of the apartment was that they paid for electric for the first three months (they always pay heat, so this was a major bonus). Several months later, in June I get a bill for my apartment and what was usually a $20 to $80 bill was $587. After freaking out and trying to figure out what was going on I realized that the "Balance" from my old address was on there and I was billed from March through June. I should have had a balance at all... the power was no longer in my name and it was confirmed that I had a zero balance when I paid on the 23rd. Who was using this much power when I turned off the thermostat when I locked the door and gave the keys to the bank?

My friend has cancer, she is fighting with all she has. She had her whole brain radiated in the spring and she still doesn't have any hair. She showed me a shut off notice for over $4,000. She was floored. Together we looked at her account online. I thought maybe they didn't pay their bills? So, I looked at their payment history. Well since May of 2014 this year they have paid over $5,000. I WAS SHOCKED AND they have a $4000 something shutoff due 10/13/2014. That is $9,000 they would be paying in a 5 month period. WHAT????? She calls them and she went to their office today but she still doesn't understand. OH listen to this, I reviewed bill after bill, month after month trying to find an answer and on the past 4 months or so, it shows a credit, every month a credit. But even so, they still made payments, every month they made payments. I hate she has to worry about this with all that she has to fight.

Consumers did not send our account to their billing department even though we called them and told them we didn't get a bill. 2 yrs later they send 17 bills in one day and another 3 a day later. I'm disabled and get 605 a month, they claimed to have read the meter but why would they read it if they wasn't billing our address? The bills were over 4500, i called an organization to help us then consumers supposedly only billed us for the last 12 months but the meter readings are not accurate. they shut our power off knowing we were getting help from organizations and they have raised the monthly payment to a level i can't pay, this is before they shut us off. I need a lawyer to sue this company not only for the inaccurate bills but for pain and suffering. I'm in northern Michigan with no power because of the way their mistake was handled. Can anyone help my family?