HOLTON, Mich. — A West Michigan woman couldn't take it anymore.
After she got a new meter installed, Lula Johnston watched her electric bill jump to more than five or six-times its normal rate.
The issue was on its way to a resolution Thursday after 13 ON YOUR SIDE stepped-in.
“Something’s got to give,” Johnston related.
The Holton woman and her faithful friend, 12-year-old Shih Tzu, Molly Gene were seeing dollar signs.
“Here I sit and all of a sudden I'm getting these high bills,” she said, exasperated. “It's like, wow… the bill that I got that was due today is $278.79.”
The price tag on Johnston’s monthly electric bills wasn’t even close to that amount just six months earlier.
Her statements showed the payment for June totaled $58.64.
By October, it had surged to around six times more expensive.
“After they had changed the Smart Meter, lo and behold, all of the sudden they did the adjustment and the bill was $351,” Johnston noted.
She believed the meter might have been the issue.
After all, Johnston’s home in Holton is modest in size. Nor does the 64-year-old use many lights or electronics.
“I just--I'm so frustrated,” she related. “I don't know what to do anymore.”
On a fixed income, Johnston said she had resorted to putting the bills on credit cards for the time being.
Johnston called her electric utility for clarity. Consumers Energy, she explained, had told her the billing discrepancy may have been an issue with the meter, but noted they were running short on replacements.
The company offered her a budget plan, providing service at a fixed rate of just over $200 a month.
“I’m on disability,” she said. “There's no way.”
13 ON YOUR SIDE called and emailed representatives for Consumers Energy and was told that while policy prevented them from discussing individual accounts, the company would look into the matter.
A day later, Consumers Energy appeared to have made it right. A technician, Johnston said, had replaced the meter Thursday morning.
He also, she noted, had downloaded the original meter’s data and forwarded the information to the billing department for review.
At the time of publication, Johnston hoped to receive an account credit or money back after the data was processed.
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