After seeing that Consumer's Energy is requesting ANOTHER price hike (the third in 3 years), i called the customer service number on the website to get more information, from a real live human being, on some of the charges on my bill. before i did this, i looked at the CE website to see what it said, but i wanted a more plain English explanation. After 30 minutes on hold, i at least got a rep in the U.S. which is quite frankly more than I was expecting. As soon as I started asking about some of the charges, the rep grew rather short with me, as if I had no right to be asking these things. She immediately said “all of this stuff can be found on our website.†I said I was tired of referring to the internet and online and I wanted to speak to a real person and get a more plain English explanation. Despite this, she then proceeded to read me verbatim the explanations off the CE website, and told me that was all she was doing. I asked several times what the “customer charge†was, and I did not understand her answer, which is not surprising as it seemed deliberately obtuse. It sounded like more or less a fee simply for being a customer. This rep was unhelpful and her tone suggested I was wasting her time by daring to ask why I was being charged so many vague “fees.†I wouldn’t be surprised if she has received many similar calls in the last few days, as CE is planning to ask for their third MASSIVE rate hike in 3 years; however, that is not my problem, and I was not rude at any point.
Also, I do not begrudge folks on lower/fixed incomes for receiving help through the Low-Income Assist Fund; however, why are we other customers contributing to it? Could this not possibly be covered by the massive profits recorded every year?
Recommendation: I don't have one. Unfortunately we're held hostage by this monopoly.