The Attorney General provides Consumer Alerts to inform the public of unfair, misleading, or deceptive business practices, and to provide information and guidance on other issues of concern. Consumer Alerts are not legal advice, legal authority, or a binding legal opinion from the Department of Attorney General.
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Attorney General Dana Nessel is reminding residents of important consumer alerts to avoid additional hardship in advance of the winter storms.
High winds could result in power outages for some communities, and Nessel is also reissuing her Utility Imposter Scams Consumer Alert. These types of scams often involve a threat to turn off a utility unless the resident pays a certain amount of money in a short amount of time. But scammers can also impersonate a utility company to convince a consumer a utility - like electricity - can be fixed sooner if they pay an additional fee.
Attorney General Nessel wants to collect input from the public on recent power outages to better inform her consumer advocacy before the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Recently, she called on the two largest utility companies in the state to prioritize customers who dealt with extended power outages through automatic bill credits instead of an application process and the creation of a fund to assist displaced customers during significant power outages.
You can learn more about those efforts in this Aug. 16 press release.
Have you ever received a call from a utility company claiming that your bill is overdue and if you don’t pay now, your power, heat, or water will be turned off immediately? That is the last thing you want in Michigan’s cold winters or hot summers.
Scammers know this and will pose as utility company employees to trick you into providing money, personal, or financial information.
Utility companies may offer you the option to pay over the phone but will never demand payment over the phone.
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) decided that Consumers Energy Company cannot charge electric customers for some of the energy replacement costs incurred by the Company due to its unreasonable and imprudent actions.
Consumers sought $338,067 to compensate itself for the costs incurred to provide electricity when it suffered an outage at one of its generation plants due to the company’s own unreasonable and imprudent practices. A larger amount was also sought by the company in the same case, for $1.77 million. The company withdrew the larger amount after the Attorney General and MPSC Staff filed testimony challenging the recovery of replacement power cost due to errors caused by its contractor. As a result of the Attorney General and MPSC Staff litigation in this case and final order by the Michigan Public Service Commission Consumers’ electric customers saved approximately $2.1 million.
Learn More About How the AG has Saved Michigan Consumers Over $2.4B