Muskegon man's huge utility bill fixed after 13 OYS gets involved

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MUSKEGON, Mich. — Imagine this: your utility bills jump to more than quadruple what you paid just last month.

That's the situation in which Brian Ketchum said he recently found himself and what prompted the 34-year-old to contact us.

Just hours after getting involved, Ketchum's story is already another success for the 13 Help Team.

We counted at least five messages this week from viewers, Ketchum among them, advancing concerns regarding the bills they’d received from Consumers Energy in recent months.

"This month's bill is $149 bucks," Ketchum referred to the Consumers app on his cell phone, later to a document unfolded and displayed on the lid of his trash can. "Okay, so how did I get $747?"

The Muskegon man had his hands full trying to figure out how he would pay for it all.

"There's no way," he continued.

The single dad calls a small bungalow on Henry Street home. It's where Ketchum lives with his two boys, a three-year-old and a two-year-old.

He's not working at the moment and trying to pull $5,000 together to get the family's roof re-shingled.

"Trying to figure out how to come up with all this stuff, it's kind of hard," Ketchum related.

The money has to stretch even in a normal month with normal expenses.

"I'm trying to take care of that, trying to take care of the other house bills, raise two boys on my own," he explained. "There's no way that you can go and get somebody for… an almost $1,000 bill for one month."

The invoice for April to which he referred includes a line item labeled ‘distribution,’ and at around $250, even that's more than Ketchum's usual monthly total.

The usage data, meanwhile, suggested his little family of three apparently burned-through approximately ten times the energy they’d used the month prior.

When he called Consumers to verify whether the charge was accurate, Ketchum said he was asked to send a photo of his actual meter and email it to a specific address in order to be put in touch with a supervisor.

He says the worker on the phone later told him the reading was legitimate and that he would be responsible for satisfying the balance. There were no payment plans available to him, Ketchum said.

"They Just wash their hands of it," he laughed. "That's not right. There's no way… something needs to happen. Other people are dealing with this also."

Following a phone conversation with Consumers Energy, the utility issued Ketchum a credit for some $400 and enrolled him in a payment plan to cover the remainder.

In a statement provided to 13 ON YOUR SIDE in response to an earlier inquiry, a spokesperson relayed the following:

"Consumers Energy is working to replace 3G electric meters which were affected when our service provider disabled its 3G network in January as part of their planned upgrade. While Consumers Energy and its meter contractor are replacing meters as quickly as possible, a nationwide supply chain issue is causing delays.

As a result, a number of these impacted customers have been receiving estimated bills based on their past use. If the auto-generated estimates based on past use are higher than actual use, customers receive an adjustment. If estimates are lower than actual use, customers are billed for the difference once the meter can be read. Ensuring customers have affordable energy and accurate bills is one of our top priorities. While we strive to have estimated bills match actual use, many variables such as weather, changes within homes and participation in some products or services can impact current use compared to past use.  If bills reflecting actual use are higher than expected, Consumers Energy is here to help. We encourage customers to call us to set up a payment arrangement that works for them.

As we continue to transition remaining customers to upgraded meter models, Consumers Energy and its contractor will manually read the meters. All meters are expected to be upgraded this year. Consumers Energy apologizes for this inconvenience and appreciates our customers’ patience as we work to serve our customers despite these global supply chain shortages."

The utility also suggested it would expedite the replacement of Ketchum's electric meter. His home currently operates the outmoded 3G version.

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