The gas and electric utility Consumers Energy here in Michigan is price gouging under Green Energy Joe, yours probably is too

Compared to November 2020, my new budget plan payment for combined natural gas and electric for the coming winter will be 42% higher than it was three years ago, despite the fact that natural gas prices have normalized almost to the penny.

Electricity is up 25% since Green Energy Joe got elected and isn't coming down, but that can't account for it since I consume far less electricity than natural gas on an average basis. More than 65% of my energy consumption in kWh is from natural gas in the last year, as it is every year, less than 35% is from electricity.

A 25% increase to 35% of my old bill would result in a total payment today less than 9% higher. Instead it's 42% higher.

Remember that the utility uses natural gas to generate the electricity, too, and it's paying normal prices today for the gas, not the inflated prices of the recent past.

There's no excuse for the extra cost I'm paying.

The utility is price gouging.

 

 

 

My local utility has repriced my fixed monthly payment for natural gas and electricity for the next year

 The new price is down 30% from last year's horrendous price.

The monthly payment will now resemble the high end of normal I experienced in the years prior to the Russia-Ukraine War.

Like a boot off my neck.

Michigan power outage update: Day 5

 Over 100k still out in DTE service area in the east, 28k in the Consumers Energy service area in the south.

Pretty shocking multi-day outage, with overnight lows averaging 26F for the last five nights.

Michigan power outage update

 Consumers Energy outages: ~36k still affected (~90k restored overnight).

DTE outages: ~279k still affected (~65k restored overnight).

This evening it will be four days since the power went out for these people.

 

 

California has power outages because it is insane and has weather, Michigan has power outages because it has weather and is insane

 127k of the current Michigan outages belong to Consumers Energy, 344k to DTE in the Detroit area.

Peak outages for Consumers Energy were ~237k at one point in this event.

Progress overnight: Just 12k restored for Consumers Energy.

In the last 20 years Michigan ranks 4th overall for total outages, but California remains the big daddy for outages, followed by Texas and New York.

Power outage due to ice storm just gets worse for Consumers Energy customers in Michigan, so they run PR ads on YouTube while it's happening

 Earlier in the day there were 137k without power.

Tonight there are 139k. 

I wouldn't have thought about it again today but for the YouTube ad which interrupted my evening video.

Consumers Energy should spend more money actually helping people instead of running a propaganda operation.

People are freezing their butts down there. It's 25F in the outage area.

DTE in the Detroit area is actually making some progress restoring power. Looks like ~200k have been restored since earlier in the day, but hundreds of thousands remain without power.

 

 

Two days after the storm blew threw Michigan is still #1 for power outages in the US this afternoon

187k are affected in the service area of DTE energy on the east side of the state right now, and 37k are affected in the Consumers Energy service area.

 

Gee what a coincidence: Natural gas inventories in the Lower 48 are down 17.6% year over year and my utility just raised my monthly budget plan payment for the next year by 18%

 

Tornadoes cream Kentucky and nearby states, but Michigan ends up with the most power outages: Thanks Consumers Energy and DTE

 

Day Nine: Over 1k still without electricity in Michigan from Consumers Energy

 

Day Eight: 3k still without power in Michigan from the electric utility Consumers Energy

 

They've trotted out the CEO of the company in radio ads the last two days to thank everyone for their patience.

No one apologizes anymore in this country, for anything.

Day Seven: 10k in Michigan still without power from Consumers Energy

 

Day Six: 26k still without power from Consumers Energy in Michigan

 Way to go, Brownie.

DAY FIVE: 50,000+ still without power from Consumers Energy across Michigan

 

My incompetent Michigan utility Consumers Energy can't deliver electricity for four days but thinks free ice cream will substitute for doing its job

How about not hectoring me day in and day out about conserving energy?

How about not retiring generating capacity and having to buy power from other states?

How about concentrating on delivering energy from reliable sources instead of risking our future on tenuous green schemes?

How about hiring more workers to keep the gas and power flowing to the people who pay your salaries?

 

Michigan is increasingly like a third world shit-hole: Day four without electrical power from Consumers Energy, over 81k still affected

My electric power went out Tuesday night at about 11pm.

It is still out.

Over 81,000 customers, just of Consumers Energy, remain without power four days after a line of storms came through.

The utility runs ads on the radio incessantly saying "Count on us"!

It spends more time and money trying to get consumers to curtail electric usage than it does providing it.

It decommissions coal fired generating capacity and then turns around and buys electricity from Indiana. Under Democrat Gretchen Whitmer we are increasingly like California. 

The utility is a cruel joke, especially this week as humidity levels soared with the heat. Indoor temperatures at night above 80 degrees F make for miserable sleeping, when sleeping occurs at all.

The air is full of the sound of generators, day and night. Lines are long at gasoline stations where people wait to fill their cans to get them through another night.

Green energy isn't green, and the power company doesn't provide it, green or otherwise.

 

 

LOL, Michigan's rapacious utility Consumers Energy delays roll-out of new Summer Peak Rate program due to COVID-19

 

Due to COVID-19, Peak Pricing has Been Delayed Until 2021:

Given the economic challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are delaying the implementation of the summer peak pricing period until 2021.

While you will still see this rate code (1001) on your bill, we will not be moving forward with the peak pricing for this summer as initially communicated. You will instead have a flat rate for electricity throughout the remainder of 2020.

The Summer Peak Rate includes a peak period from June 1 through September 30. The peak period consists of “on-peak” and “off-peak” rate prices:

• “On-peak” rate price – From 2 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, your electricity rate will cost about 1.5 times higher than the “off-peak” rate price.
• “Off-peak” rate price – customers will pay a lower rate price for electricity used outside of on-peak times. This is the same rate you would pay October through May.

New summer "Time of Use" rate coming for millions of Michigan customers of Consumers Energy in 2020 between 2pm and 7pm Monday through Friday: Penalty electricity rate rises 13.7% over summer 2019 penalty rate

The smart meter installation roll-out everywhere in recent years now affords the utility the ability to measure usage of each customer for the designated five hour period. In future customers are promised that ability also, in order to monitor their own usage hour by hour, through an online dashboard for their accounts.

Presently penalty electric rates are imposed in the summers for all use above 600 kWh without regard to time of day. Once you hit the threshold, you pay at a higher rate for the electricity. In my case that usually happens by day 20 of the month. This new way eliminates the 600 kWh threshold. Use energy during the five hour window on day one and you pay the penalty rate, period.

Some will be able to game this because they aren't home during the day anyway. For the rest of us, however, it will be a different story, shifting energy use to the mornings before 2pm and the evenings after 7pm, or to weekends, and perhaps turning off the A/C and shifting activities to the basement to beat the heat. 

Venezuela north: 230,000 still without power in Michigan as of Monday morning and many will be until Thursday

More than 230,000 in Michigan still without power after weekend storms:

The massive outages seem to mostly be affecting DTE customers in the east side of the state as Consumers Energy is reporting only about 35,000 customers currently without power.

Latest estimates put more than 800,000 without electric power in immediate aftermath of Michigan storms

After more than 800,000 lose power across Michigan, some won’t be restored until mid-week:

At one point in the immediate aftermath of Friday night and Saturday’s storms, nearly 600,000 DTE customers lost power [in Southeast Michigan]. Consumers Energy had about 67,000 homes and businesses still without power [Sunday night], compared to the 220,000 of its customers affected overall [in West Michigan]. ... DTE officials called the multiple storms one of the worst events its crews have ever dealt with. ... Since Friday, DTE says it has receive [sic] reports of more than 2,000 downed wires.