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A PENNY SHORT.....

n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
edited May 2006 in General Discussion
A penny short means no electricity for a Michigan woman

Flint, Michigan - Just how powerful is a penny?

To a Michigan energy company it's the difference between keeping your lights on and having them turned off.

Consumers Energy turned off the power to a Flint woman after she paid all but one penny of her bill, which was $1,662.08.

The company told her the power would not be turned on until it received the penny.

The woman went went into the Consumers' Energy office and paid the penny. After seven hours without electricity, her power was restored.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Weird News

Comments

  • dcon12dcon12 Member Posts: 32,038 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The problem is if you let her by with a penny, everyone would do the same. Don
  • Teflon888Teflon888 Member Posts: 36 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think that's asinine unless she specifically stated she was leaving off the penny just to mess with them.
  • select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,518 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    How did she get a bill that large without paying it? I just heard on the news yesterday that it cost the government 1.6 Cents to make a penny and 5.8 cents to make a nickel.
  • p3skykingp3skyking Member Posts: 23,916 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by select-fire
    How did she get a bill that large without paying it? I just heard on the news yesterday that it cost the government 1.6 Cents to make a penny and 5.8 cents to make a nickel.


    Don't believe it. It cost less than a nickle to make a quarter.
  • Queen of SwordsQueen of Swords Member Posts: 14,355
    edited November -1
    My question is, how and why did her bill get to $1662.08 before she considered making a payment?!
    Unless she's running several MIG welders, perhaps she has a body shop, methinks she just didn't pay the bill for a long time.
  • tomh.tomh. Member Posts: 3,847 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Maybe she's got a large reefer operation going!

    I meant refrigerators, ya pot heads! [:D]
  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    The point is not why the bill was so large, the point is for a flippin penny they cut it off.....

    Tack it onto the next bill for cripes sake....Sometimes the stupidity of companies astounds me...
  • Viper3CViper3C Member Posts: 177 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Please read the full story
    http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-05-16-penny_x.htm

    Black, You need to link the whole story, not just parts of it. On one hand,

    quote:FLINT, Mich. (AP) - It was just a penny, but to Consumers Energy it was enough to cut off power in a Flint, Mich.,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 (CMS) subsidiary told Williams the power would not be turned on until the penny was received.


    But look a little further:

    quote:"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 some 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.



    Over half of her bill was paid by the Salvation Army and Consumers Energy itself. It doesn't say how much the Dept of Human Services (aka you and me) paid. I think that if it were me, I would have paid the penny on time.
  • WarbirdsWarbirds Member Posts: 16,934 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:BlackRoses
    Advanced Member



    USA
    7267 Posts
    Posted - 05/16/2006 : 9:27:08 PM

    The point is not why the bill was so large, the point is for a flippin penny they cut it off.....


    It seems you're choosing to ignore the facts. With the amount of money she owed the power company I would have electricity for roughly 14-18 months. I am inclined to believe she may have missed a payment here or there. AND MAYBE in the power companies crazy skeem to turn a profit it is reasonable to expect payment in full to someone who repeatedly stiffs you, before you continue to provide a service to that person.
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