Consumers Energy
reviews and complaints

I’m a single person living in a house, I only use my stove sat and sund.. I never use my stove in the morning.. I have a coffee machine, I only use my electric dryer once a month.. I only keep my heat at 63f.. and I leave the house to work at 7 and return at 5pm.. Monday to Friday. During the time I am not home, my heat is completely off… and my gas bill are getting every month higher! Over $170

Only for gas!

I wanted to give proper praise to a customer service representative, and I can't find a number or place to submit a compliment so I'll try here, and hopefully it'll get to the right people :).

**THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT**

I repeat:

**THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT**

I had a few questions concerning my account, and was helped by a gentleman by the name of Anthony. I just wanted to let someone on the management team know that Anthony's customer service was great! Anthony spoke clearly, and kindly all while answering my questions promptly, and made it quite easy to resolve my issues. I hope to deal with such a great employee next time I have any issues.

So BIG thank you to him! I Hope he sees this too, and if he isn't training your new employees yet, he should be!

Thanks for your time, sorry to file this here and worry anyone. Very happy with my service! 5/5stars 💕

My complaint is this.Why is the outage rebate so low for having no power for 5 days or more due to a catastrophic event.The latest event was an ice storm last week.Our power was out for just short of 6 day and we are eligible for a whopping bc $25 outage rebate.Does Consumers as a company realize the expenses that occur with power of that long.Damaged food,fuel cost to run a generator ($160 for me)lodging,eating out and on and on I could go.Consumers currently charge there 1.8 million electric customers $.90 every month on our bill to cover low income customers.That translates to over 18 million dollars a year.Hard for me to believe they kick that much back each year.My suggestion is this, start an outage fund so customers can get a full reimbursement for expenses incurred during an outage as long as receipts are produced. $25 is an insult and many don’t even know there eligible.

Years ago the electricity kept going out, my mother called and talk to a woman In Tampa Fl. She put us on a different power grid and we didn’t have but one outage a year after that and it wasn’t for days only hours. This latest outage started at 5:11 PM Wednesday 2/22/23 and has been out ever since. It’s 47 Degrees in my House right now my freezer refrigerator is get warmer. I’m on SNAP and have health problems. Can’t even flush the toilet. No electricity no water no cooking no coffee to keep my headaches at bay. I have more problems than I need this just adds to my grief and stress. I do not have a working vehicle either.

I'm a low income individual and beginning of January 2023 consumer energy transferred an old bill from a previous family in my home to MY bill, ie, different account number and social security number from the previous Tennant. So now that account number in question is [edited]. Consumers energy also has another account number in my name of [edited] in which consumer energy applied the previous Tennant bill to, to me, and I'm not responsible for another person's bills and debts. I don't work and I'm low income and get SER help from the state to pay my bill which consumer energy says is another account number of [edited] which this account number I had all last year and everything was good until this new year of 2023 where everything changed and I have no explanation for. Please research each account number and help me, there's no way to pay their $6,000 balance?! I am not responsible for someone else who doesn't pay their bills. I have medical issues and use medical equipment at home via electric and rely on this for my health. I want an explanation and to hold those who didn't pay accountable, it's not my debt. Since these Tennants moved out of my address I've lowered my energy use significantly, how can this unfair company hold me to their debt, I'm in debt myself like over half the word is now. This is disgusting and unfair to the poor like me please help

As a former employee of Consumers Energy, the lack of hometown service is unacceptable. I pay for the Whole Home Care program and my first call was about my electric dryer a few weeks ago. You sent someone out and they indicated it was not the dryer but the venting system. I called another company that specializes in cleaning dryer vents. It cost me $350 for them to clear the vents, which he indicated were not bad. I also paid a plumber $175 to move my washer water lines for the vent to be moved. Needless to say, after money spent, the dryer is still not drying properly as it takes multiple times for the clothes to dry.

I called yesterday and was on hold for 43 minutes before someone answered my call. The call ended after one hour and 9 minutes. The representative was rude, continued to interrupt me and made it very clear that they would not send another company out to address the dryer issue again. I shared with her that the first company did nothing and now I'm being told that because the issue remains unresolved that I won't be able to call again for the same issue.

I am not a complainer; however, I expect more from the employees/contractors that work for CE having been a former employee in Community Affairs. You must do better.

Hello,

This is Trinidad Alair of 1769 Lakewood Drive in Troy Michigan. My account number is [protected]

I received my current bill today for the service dates of 10/19/2022-11/18/2022 in the amount of $ 119.78. My last month bill was $57.60. My complaint is what a big difference in the amount in one month's time and the weather has not been very cold yet.

Please let me know what went wrong. Thanks

My current bill of Oct 2022 is - 92.51$ credit, my amount due is 0, yet my balance is $405.28 and on this current bill I am reading that starting next month the SPP amount will be $150. This amount is at the fault of miss handling my payments sent in by myself. I have been on a budget plan and paid it each and every month, then noticed the balance owed kept adding up, so I sent in a one lump some to pay it in full and go back to my monthly plan. HOWEVER,

Instead of using the money to pay up my bill it was, quote"put in a bucket" and it gave me a credit amount while I still paid a monthly budget amount.

I have made several attempts to straiten this out knowing that I can not pay a large monthly payment and failed each time. The last time I called, I was angry that no one was listing to me as my bill (amt owe balance) grew. I have sincerely seeking legal consul on this matter as I do not have the financial means to pay such a large amount each month.

Recently received a call from someone with a cell phone. Indicating they need access to my residence representing Consumers Energy. I am aware of the Pipeline upgrade in my neighborhood and have received documentation to this effect. I do not recall reading anything from Consumers Energy that said I could get a call from my privately listed number from someone other than Consumers Energy. The message said I must call them back right away - that's not happening. Until I get a call from Consumers Energy indicating who (by name) needs access to my property and why - entry will not be possible. I tried calling the number on one of the letters received for this pipeline update - to no avail - there is no one to answer the following number: [protected]

P Walker

Project Number: 19437

My complaint centers around Consumers Energy (CE) allowing Eligo--an Illinois company--to use CE as a conduit to cheat its customers like me or to operate as an alternate gas supplier under CE's auspices. Further, neither CE nor the Michigan Public Service Commission seem to regulate an alternative gas supplier like Eligo in any way.

As of October 2022, Eligo's natural gas rate billed to me is $14.49 per mcf, which is 290% higher than what Eligo charged me in September 2022, and 234% more than what CE charges its customers = $6.18 per mcf.

I think CE has an obligation to warn its customers that hooking up with an alternative natural gas supplier like Eligo is extremely risky. Once Eligo's 2 month "get acquainted" period is over, it can rip off customers like me and CE won't do a thing about it.

I understand even if I cancel Eligo today--which I did--I must pay its outrageous rate of $14.49 per mcf--or maybe even more!--for 2 "billing cycles. That means that during the coldest and most expensive gas heating months of the year I will be on the hook to this fraud of a company.

Roger L. Schultz

280 Lighthouse Circle

Manistee, MI 49660

Phone: [protected]

Email: [protected]@gmail.com

September 17, 2022

RE: Account [protected]

280 Lighthouse Circle

Manistee, MI 49660

Consumers Energy. Com

Customer Service Dept

To Whom it may concern;

I have a serious problem caused by Consumers Power. On Tuesday 9/13/22 our HVAC system received its annual inspection by Moore Mechanical and all was well. The HVAC worked fine after the inspection. I witnessed that with the technician. Later in the morning that same day a Consumers Power person showed up to install an upgrade to our AC Peak Cycling module.

That evening we tried to turn on our AC and it did not function. The next morning, we called Consumers Power and told them of our problem. They said they would send someone out the next day, Wednesday 9/14. We were not home until 3:00pm of that day and found the HVAC still not working. We called Consumers again. Then later on we called Moore Mechanical and had them come back. After much testing and investigation, it was determined that our HVAC Circuit Board had been shorted out during the Consumers Power upgrade process. That resulted in a cost to me of $707.00 for a new board, (just the part.)

I believe that Consumers Power should reimburse me. Please consider this and respond back to me as soon as possible.

Thank You for your attention.

Wednesday September 7, 2022

One Tuesday August 30th, I called in an issue with the tops of 2 trees hanging over the power line that goes from the pole to our home. As of this morning, as far as we knew, no one came to look at the situation. We did not receive any communication from anyone ever about this. This morning I called in again and was told the original call was marked as completed. What! So late this morning a person from Consumers showed up and said 'not my responsibility'. I was told to get a tree professionally and Consumers could come back and drop the wire until the tree problem was solved. This is 8 days after my original call. This lack of communication is unacceptable! We could have been in touch with companies for scheduled visits for estimates 8 days ago! Now we are behind the 8 ball getting this taking care before the end of November!

On July 5, 2022 at about 1-1:30am, the electrical transmitter box behind my home at 61 Elmview Ct. caught fire. My entire home smelled of burnt wire and the fire department was called to my home and my neighbors home. I evacuated the property until Consumers came out the next day. Upon my return home, I discovered that my central air unit was fried, furnace, fans, camera doorbell, refrigerator's water/ice maker circuit board. I have the consumer protection plan and they fixed my central air and furnace under that plan. They replaced the circuit board for the refrigerator's ice/water maker, but it fried immediately. The refrigerator was purchased in 2019. I was told that it can't be fixed. I filed a complaint with Consumers Energy (Claim #[protected]) I received a letter from Consumers Energy on July 7, 2022. The letter states that they are not responsible for the damages to my appliances. According to Consumers, it is not their fault and is due to unexpected equipment damage/malfunction. In their letter they recommend that I turn my claim over to my insurance carrier. It's not my fault and I did not cause damages to Consumers Energy's equipment or cause it to malfunction. Why should I have to file a claim through my insurance company, pay a deductible and raise my insurance rates? Why should I suffer the loss of my refrigerator's water/ice maker, fan and camera doorbell? Consumers had recently done work on the electrical lines on my street on June 3, 2022 and around June 9, 2022. My neighbors were without power for two days each time they worked on the power lines. Consumers also cut a lot of tree branches from the power lines in my back yard and left 3 huge piles of tree branches in the yard. They brought a big machine in my yard and tore up the grass in the process of the tree removal. Nelson's Tree Service is the company that they used. I again filed a complaint with Consumers Energy. They sent someone out the dig up the yard and covered it with hay. I was told by Consumers Energy that it is my responsibility to remove the three piles of tree branches. Why am I being inconvenienced as a paying customer? The trees that were cut was from the neighbors trees on the other side of the fence but again, I am the one inconvenienced. I pay a lot of money to Consumers Energy monthly, but they are costing me money. This is unacceptable and unfair.

While traveling west bound on five-mile road in Livonia at 11:45 this morning one of your employees driving a truck with an extra-large flatbed failed to yield at a Michigan turn around and flew right in front of us. His truck looked like it was almost on two wheels because he was going so fast. His license plate number is AF07172.

I closed on my property in Roseville, MI on 05/25/22 & called Consumer's Energy to transfer service out of my name. On 07/23/22, received a collection notice for the final bill! I never received a paper statement, text, email, or call about a final bill. They just sent my name to a collection agent for $20.37. My credit score decreased due to this. I would have happily paid this if I received some kind of notice. Very unprofessional.

The house at 22841 stair drive is an inherited property I am going through the mortgage lender with getting everything turned over into my name. During this process I went to get the utilities switched over as they had remained in my mothers name Annie M. Dickerson who passed in December of 2017. My brother and sister n law were living with her caring for her until she passed after she passed they remained in the home. My brother eventually would also pass in September of 2019, pandemic hit and the world stopped. When I did start to work on my parents estate matters again I realized the utilities had never been switched out of her name and started that process. Instead of closing out her account because my drivers license at that address they simply switched the $2700 bill to me. I tried to explain to Ms. Cotton several several times while I understand state law there are always extenuating circumstances. My address still has and will continue to have the stair address. I was a VAWA victim stalked by an ex who found me because I changed my address at the secretary of state and he found me and held me at gunpoint until this happens to you and you have this fear you will not understand. I immediately after that I changed my license to my parents home because the person is not a random person it is someone I knew and they know I did not live with my parents so that gave me some peace that he could not find me again it may be rational but it gives me some small peace. I explained this and they did not care only said payment arrangement I gave them my home addresses for the past 15 + years where you can look at the payment history and the payments come directly from the account I still have.

my past addresses are 15715 Ego eastpointe mi 48021 and we had servide at the Harbours in clintont township I cannot think of lthe address now but it can be located and then we moved into our home in macomb 47370 Prescot dr macomb MI 48044 but because the accounts are in my husbands name again they wont listen. The payments for the 22841 Stair address after 2017 were coming from my brothers Comerica checking account or his wifes account not my account that has not changed in over 25 years proving they were living there making the payments. At one point they even did and application to start the service change and it did not go through they also did an application to have a 3rd party pay the bill this was all told to me by a consumers energy agent so again they can see the information that raised enough doubt that yes someone else was living there. My sister n law offered to do a statement saying her and my brother was living in the home they would not take that. I told them please go out to the home see it is vacant no one is living there come to my home see I am not living there and they will not do anything but say you can do a payment arrangement right now I am paying the mortgage on 2 homes because my parents home on stair dr is not paid for I cannot handle 2 housheolds. My son and his family moved out of their apartment moved in with me on Prescot and began working on Stair Dri so that they could move over there and take some of this burden off of me. I called and spoke to an agent and said I know you want a payment arrangement but I cannot pay both places I asked if I want someone else to move over there what do I do they said you just stop the service the bill with stay with you and they will have to be able to get service in their name and that is what I did only for my son to be told today the bill has to be paid before it can go into his name. I simply do not have $2700 laying around and I really dont think I should be responsible for a bill that did not belong to me ever. Now my sons family is in limbo the plan was not to be with me forever but they cannot move onto Stair and help me like they planned I know we all have rules and policies but there are times and circumstances where you have to think outside policy. This is not me simply trying to get out of service I have used. If you listen to all the transcripts from many many phone calls my story has never changed no one will even do their due diligence to investigate anything I am saying. I cannot continue to maintain both houses so now while it is just energy service to you without my son moving over there and starting to pay the mortgage I am now going to be in jeopardy of losing the family home when you try and speak to a supervisor you get no where I have had 2 conversations with Ms. Cotton and nothing else now today they are saying it is another supervisor who as o f yet has not called me back. I need to be able to have my sons family move into this extremely vacant house that can easily be confirmed with a home visit by consumers energy. I have employment information with my home address of Prescot, banking information, cable information, w2 information so many many other things I do not and have not lived at stair dr since 1997 at this point I just need someone somewhere to assist before I have to escalate this to Attorney General office I will be the first person to state I have not handled this whole thing properly but between 2015 and 2019 my whole entire family had died I have dealt with severe depression, covid and many other things but I certainly believe consumers energy has not acted in good faith it seems all they want is the money or nothing I just want a fair solution if I had the $2700 to simply make this go away so that my son and his family could move in I would gladly pay it but again I am paying 2 mortgages, 2 children in college, I honestly do not have $2700 for a bill that did not belong to me in the first place.

To whom it might concern; as of July 2nd, 2022 I am writing this email as a complaint for harassment , threats I have on my voicemail for non payment and I have contact consumers many times over 2020, 2021 , and now 2022 for the State relief program and because for hardship President / Governor have passed the order that no company should be harrassing or threading customers when they going thru hardship for non payment neither shutting service off and as well as helping them to resolve the problem and enroll then into the State relief that was passed .. now I have had a called from a lady from consumers energy harrassing me and trying to force a recording when I never allowed it and I said that I do not want anyone cutting my consumers gas in my property located in 1510 Leon rd walled Lake Michigan 48390 and nor I give any consent to take anything unless a court order says to pay when there is the State relief that should be for all the people.. Now the lady that had contact me have hanged up and said things never said and she said that she will record my conversation when I never allowed it .. I will go and defend myself to court and I have my property trusted and patented and is my name so if anyone would try to come into my property without my consent or a court order then that person will be violating my rights as well as the constitution rights and as well as the State statues or Codes. I have the right to Gas when president said and is a BETTER BILL ACT and there is the State relief that can be used to pay for it until we all the people come out of all this pandemic inflation and can have normal life again. Again I have rights that would like to see the companies Policies and pandemic, policies and customers rights to be mailed to me as register mailed thru USPO as well as a bill because I never got a bill from consumers energy and all I got a threat voicemail saying that I will have the gas consumer cut and threading me to pay when by law and constitution that’s not right to do ..

I will also be sending the attorney general as well as notary in Secretary of State to seal and hear the voicemail and send you guys a letter for abusing my rights and not using a State relief that was given to all the people thru the pandemic and use that to relief customers. I hope that CEO or someone other than the lady threading me on the phone call could call or send me a register mail explaining all is going on and how would this matter be fixed .. thank you sincerely ADRIANA FARANSO ..

P/S; Would like to see a contract signed and also all rights with it that a customer have as well as anything that was signed with my lower case name .. as well as any permission and all.. So please my phone is [protected] or register mail sent by the USPO can be send with all the documents that is giving your corporate threat me over voicemails for no payment and more.. also would like to see all account details and how anytime account was paid make sure that was only paid once and not twice from any other instrument or commodity. Sincerely ADRIANA FARANSO

Starting june 16 2022 at 3:30 PM curran michigan was hit by a wind storm being one of the first places to lose power. As of today at 11:45am june 18 2022 they have yet to fix the issue. Everywhere else was back online within a day but we have yet to even see any trucks or utility vehicles out in curran Michigan. They have pushed back the reinstatement time 5 times now. With gas being 5.49$ here where we are I am unable to keep a generator running for this amount of time. I am very frustrated that I have watched as everywhere else was put ahead of us and everywhere else is with power again with us being one of the first areas to lose it. I feel that consumers energy is incompatible of providing the services they claim to say they do. I have a pregnant wife at 30 weeks and only enough food to keep her healthy and due to not having power for three days I'm going to have to throw most of it out. I am beyond flustered with this company and there over seas customer service.

I have a tree on the property that was to be cut done approximately 4.5 years ago and said they would be back to cut it down (never came back and tree is still there). Now in 2022 they came out and marked tress to be cutdown/trimmed. I have two river birch trees on my property. One marked to cut down and the other marked to be trimmed. Ask why it was done that way and told smaller one sway more in the wind and the bigger one does not. These are not hardwood trees nor big branches and both swayed in the wind. The tree company manager told me he had a meeting with Consumers and gave him permission to cut both trees down (marked to be trimmed). He cut down the river birch marked to be trimmed and just trimmed the other tree (elm tree) thats still standing after 4.5 years. Upon contact to Consumers was told by the manager I gave him consent to cut the river birch down (I did not give him consent he got that from the so-called meeting he had with you) Also, was told by Consumers manager the tree service never had a meeting with them discussing my situation regarding the trees. Also, I was told its a misunderstanding on my part. How can you know what was said and talked about not even being on site. Requested a meeting with Consumers and tree service manager to no avail and denied. With myself not giving consent to cut down the river birch (only asking why the two river birch trees were marked that way) and the tree service manager saying he got consent from consumers Possible resolution would have been to relocate the trees wasnt even an option do to the time of year this occurred. I would like restitution for my trees.

I own property at 496 44th St., Allegan, MI. I was out there yesterday, April 24th, 2022, and it looks as though a large service truck recently drove over the edge of my mobile home pad and cracked a large section off. There is currently no mobile home on the property, but we are in the process of finding and placing one there. There is plumbing for the septic tank that runs under this as well. Please contact me as to what you plan to do about this incident. I do not wish to contact a lawyer, but I will if necessary. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Laura Neibarger

[protected]@gmail.com