To those who say pennies are worth nothing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060516/...NlYwNtZW5ld3M-

Quote:

Power Shut Off After Woman Owes a Penny

Tue May 16, 6:42 PM ET

FLINT, Mich. - It was just a penny, but to Consumers Energy it was enough to cut off power in a local home. Jacqueline Williams, 41, of Flint had an electricity bill of $1,662.08 and paid all of it, except for one cent. That wasn't enough for the power company, which blacked her out for seven hours Wednesday.

The CMS Energy Corp. subsidiary told Williams the power would not be turned on until the penny was received.

"I went down there, paid my penny and got a receipt," Williams told The Flint Journal.

Shortly after, the electricity was turned back on.

"All of this for one penny," said Williams, who went to the state Department of Human Services for help in April and was told the agency would pay most of the bill.

But she was still short more than $500.

Williams, a Social Security recipient, went to the Salvation Army, where she received $430.67, and Consumers agreed to match $430.66 toward the bill.

However, she was still one cent short.

A Consumers Energy spokesman said that the utility had no choice in the matter, though he was not aware of any similar incidents where service was stopped for one cent.

"This was the first one I've heard about," said Terry DeDoes. He said the company has many programs to help people who fall behind in their utility bills.

Williams said she doesn't want to find herself in the same situation again.

"I'm praying to God I stay on top of my bills," she said.

I find it amusing that the electric company probably lost more money by turning her power off then by just leaving it on. Of course I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the way businesses are ran these days.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The rest of the story confuses me. Why does this woman have an electricity bill of sixteen hundred fucking dollars? That could cover my entire utilities bill for months and months. I feel like I'm either missing something obvious, or things are WAY cheaper than they should be here.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

From what I have seen in the area, I figure the high cost is mostly due to the fact that the houses in that area were not built or maintained with energy conservation in mind.
She might also have had very wasteful kids. The attitude of people in that area is one of negligence and apathy about that sort of thing.

Although, I am still surprised by this, since this past winter in Flint wasn't that bad at all. In fact, it was the warmest I had ever experienced in my life.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Or she just didn't pay her bill for a year and a half. The power company is more lenient than most - it tends to take anywhere between 3-6 months for them to even send you a notice. You'll get cut off shortly after, but you can stall them by paying a small amount or asking to work out a payment arrangement and then not paying.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

That was pretty nonsensical of the electric company. Why waste their time and the woman's time over one penny? Would it have been so hard for someone down in accounting or whatever to pull a penny out of their pocket and pay it for her? I'm not gonna say it was stupid of the electric company, but they should use some common sense next time.

How ya doing, buddy?

Seems that is mostly for lack of payments, as the lady says that she will be on top of her bills after that to prevent it from happenning again

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

At least she didn't have to pay late fees or interest on the penny. I could see it now:

Electric company: OK, the total bill comes to $0.01, plus $10,000.00 in late fees. Cash only please.
Customer: *faints*

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Mr. Danielsard

Seems that is mostly for lack of payments, as the lady says that she will be on top of her bills after that to prevent it from happenning again

I guess, but my calculations show that this would be about a year's worth of utility bills for me, if I take care to watch what I use. It's incredible that she let it get that bad. I'm not saying I blame her, she obviously had reasons, and possibly went through some hardship, but I would faint dead away if I got that kind of a bill.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Yeah, it does seem a bit of a stretch for the power company to do that over a penny. But I can see too how it could turn out if they were even more lenient that way. Before you know it, people would be saying the same thing only it would be "It was just a dollar", and then that would get stretched even further to "It was just $10", "It was only $50", and so on. Yeah, I'm exaggerating, but you get my drift. They have to draw the line somewhere if they don't want their clients raping them day in and day out.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Josiah

Yeah, it does seem a bit of a stretch for the power company to do that over a penny. But I can see too how it could turn out if they were even more lenient that way. Before you know it, people would be saying the same thing only it would be "It was just a dollar", and then that would get stretched even further to "It was just $10", "It was only $50", and so on. Yeah, I'm exaggerating, but you get my drift. They have to draw the line somewhere if they don't want their clients raping them day in and day out.

It's not as though they couldn't have just put it on her next bill. I'm not saying she shouldn't have to pay it. After all, if she owes a penny, she owes a penny.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

wow, i believe that is either really sad, or that electric company was one penny short on their electric bill although i never said pennies were worthless especially since i use them to help me not have leftover change which only weighs me down! GO PENNIES!

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On the one hand, I see how ludicrous it is over a single penny. Quite a drastic action that could have been easily let go until the next payment.

On the other hand, if everyone was always a penny short, they would definitely be cheated by the public out a sum of money (Let's see $0.01 X 100000 people = $1000?)

It does feel rather merciless, but since electricity is basically a monopoly, they don't really have to aim towards customer satisfaction. Perhaps this is an example of them enforcing their reins with a brutal show of authority

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

My guess is this persons bill was so high because they hadn't paid it in a couple months. That would explain why they were so ruthless about one cent. Hell, If some one had pissed me off by not paying for months, I wouldn't let them get out of a penny.

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Originally Posted by Summonmaster

On the one hand, I see how ludicrous it is over a single penny. Quite a drastic action that could have been easily let go until the next payment.

On the other hand, if everyone was always a penny short, they would definitely be cheated by the public out a sum of money (Let's see $0.01 X 100000 people = $1000?)

yeah...but still, it seems really odd that they would track this one person
if this happens all the time, I would understand, but this doesn't seem like it's common practice

I mean, how many other reports to we hear about Edison when it's not about a power shortage?

correct me if I'm wrong, but it just seems like one isolated incident to me...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Nobody said following standard operating procedures is a logical matter The system probably flagged her account as scheduled for service stoppage, and left it at that.

FELIPE NO

Hmm, that's funny. Even with four or five people in the house at all times, most of the time. My little brother and I constantly playing games with lights on(Lights at night) and TV as well, our's only come out to 120 dollars a month.

Hmm, oh well, she should be more careful with what goes on fincially and like Zergrinch said. It was probaly because of the fact that they flagged her account and forgot about it.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Josiah

Yeah, it does seem a bit of a stretch for the power company to do that over a penny. But I can see too how it could turn out if they were even more lenient that way. Before you know it, people would be saying the same thing only it would be "It was just a dollar", and then that would get stretched even further to "It was just $10", "It was only $50", and so on. Yeah, I'm exaggerating, but you get my drift. They have to draw the line somewhere if they don't want their clients raping them day in and day out.

Raping them?

You.... you mean to tell me that complaints are now corporate rape?

Complaints about shutting off the electricity over one penny is rape?

I........ I.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

We had a news story thingy a bit like this the other day, except I think it was for a phone company wanting two cents from an old lady. Good thing Australia stopped the one and two cent pieces here years ago so she can't pay. But the phone company cut her off anyway. The lesson here is that all old people should be picked on over crazy small amounts of money like this because they're old and hilariously confused.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

That is rediculas! all over one cent? man if my company was like that I'd be switching companys. however how the hell do you get a bill that high?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Uhhhhhh...... as far as I know... there aren't really a lot of choices when it comes to who you get your electricity from. Atleast around here there is OPPD and thats it, so if you want power from another company you're shit outta luck.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

You have no choice here in Wisconsin either. It's WE(Wisconsin Energy.) or nothing.

And they have the right to do anything to you if you can not pay your bill, regardless if it's a penny or 20,000 dollars but you can NOT TELL ME that she did not have any pennies laying around. There is always a shitload of pennies floating around in my parent's cars, my house and including in the big ceramic pot I made to put change in.

I was speaking idiomatically.