[nfbmi-talk] Fw: Utility Electric Outage Credit

[joe harcz Comcast]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Valarie Barnum-Yarger 
To: Carol Bergquist ; Constance Kiggins ; Dawn Reamer ; Debra Morrison ; Dominic Dennis ; Kellie Boyd ; Ken Browde ; Michael Hamm ; Miranda Grunwell ; Rebecca Parten ; Robin Bennett ; Sara Grivetti ; Steve Locke ; Steven Ovalle ; Cindy Kelly ; Collette Bauman ; Denise Stork-Phillips ; Edward Rodgers ; Lou Adams ; Sally Harrison ; Zimmer, Mike (LARA) ; Angela Hoff ; Dave Bulkowski ; David Emmel ; eweaver at cacil.org ; Jim Magyar ; Jim Moore ; Joel Cooper ; Lesia Pikkart ; Mike Zelley ; rick at dnwayne.org ; Sarah Peura ; susanc at dcilmi.org ; Todd Whiteman 
Cc: Tracy Brown ; Rodney at misilc.org 
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2014 5:23 PM
Subject: FW: Utility Electric Outage Credit


The following information is provided by Fairchild-Lebel-Rice(SILC auditing firm).  Feel free to share as you see appropriate.



~Valarie



Dear Friends and Clients,



If you’re like me, your electric power was down and out for a very long time last week.  Good news, the Michigan Public Service Commission requires utility companies to provide a substantial outage credit to customers who have no power for 5 days under “catastrophic” conditions.  Catastrophic is defined as a period when 10% or more of a utility’s customers are affected.



I don’t know if at least 10% of Consumer’s Energy or DTE customers were affected, but the application is easy and could result in a large credit for you.  If I read the rule correctly, the credit is one full month of your electric bill.



If you were out of power from Sunday through Thursday (at least 120 hours), I suggest you complete a credit application.  Links are below.



The Board of Water and Light tells me that since they are owned by the City of Lansing, they are not regulated by the MPSC, and therefore not subject to the outage credit requirement.  And it seems that people in Lansing were the most affected with many still without power.  Go figure…



Best regards and happy new year!



Richard C. Fairchild, CPA

Fairchild, Lebel & Rice, PC

5123 W. St. Joseph

Lansing, Michigan  48917

Voice: (517) 321-5990 ext. 11

Fax: (517) 321-9439

email:  rick at fairchild-lebel-rice.com







Consumers Energy:



https://www.consumersenergy.com/webform.aspx?ekfrm=3359





DTE Energy (I have no idea why their link is so long!):



https://www2.dteenergy.com/wps/portal/dte/residential/problemsSafety/details/reliability%20credit%20request%20form/!ut/p/b1/jZLJjptAFEW_JR_QTTHDkslQDDaGAgMbhAcwQwHGDDZfH3dLvUiUTnJ3Tzp38XQPkRARkbTZXBbZWHZt1nzcCZfSgr0N2WC3txFQAZRDdy-wGtgp9AuIP4Cd5PnMC0AAaAB6oeoalkDrDv9_ffBNJPCv_oGIUEzL6h0Wmual12By5Q0cm9sujw8iOFy6zJ-m52NGs-lxzoPGaEs52AG6F114TI51d7OlwmbOHMM9CosxN2nbtLo_b7yyrdeJE1avjW54hJZFi1b8TJb6mbAbVdK1OmDS3SYMUXZRo_G8CPZjyKhGF5RySqhT2Ui6aVGFxuWtN5PYtKNlCU88T7pzIWLDSyOVHqKgK34QJpGUR_y-nPA7eOdo7hWRpUWa4zlOIMIq5sTXj4sKvdwMZn3btwllYAmUZB_pXZ-vxXQ8c5dAMbSreRXeJr7erYeOE6wTIk17PpDHaj2CYOl9XjAM2B4wa3bqOO03itzDh5PRE3lzgzWp982m2g4PoO8utVxY7uNmGgOG5ckpFcZmlRhprTLdUg_n8cmhxpN28-ARZiqvr3o_2FCRFDrrOyDseeFONWZZdfo9rGw_GmDiT1jGTD5wb_GQtm_3vEkl7_k8LPpry-TXuVkaCgAiiZYDmqIAx3wBX7qxui98-kC7SKOAzv8O_MHHT-Avwm2NDl-I-IXx34oHKQIREWBSv3r2cK1Xr1r3lA9GB1XeFqwhRFWEtkhb76JC-tq0kmpAojVe74MPkO0Af0TuOfQCWVKxmQcXosdBMGMRlu61-wkl5E1i/dl4/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/





The Michigan Public Service Commission rule:



R460.744 Penalty for failure to restore service after an interruption due to catastrophic conditions. Unless an electric utility requests a waiver pursuant to part 5 of these rules, an electric utility that fails to restore service to a customer within 120 hours after an interruption that occurred during the course of catastrophic conditions shall provide to any affected customer that notifies the utility of the interruption with a bill credit on the customer’s next bill. The amount of the credit provided to a residential customer shall be the greater of $25.00 or the customer’s monthly customer charge. The amount of the credit provided to any other distribution customer shall be the customer’s minimum bill prorated on a daily basis.


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