Legal Question in Consumer Law in Michigan

Probably not - this is a scam they pull on customers - they will add on a person's old balance if that person is residing with you, saying they are "benefiting" from the service. Most people don't realize that it's generally not legal or proper, and they don't fight it, so they get stuck with the bill, which is why Consumers Energy continues to do this. I just went through this for someone else.

For example, husband and wife live in a house. CE bill is in husband's name only and it's 6 months past due. Husband dies or is otherwise uncollectible. Wife moves to a new residence and starts CE service in her name on a new account. Suddenly, the old balance from her old residence is added on, and CE says it's because she lived at the prior residence and "benefited" from CE's services.

What if she didn't live at the old residence, or live there the entire time? Even if you can prove that, CE will still give you the runaround. CE has gotten much more creative the past few years because so many people are unable to pay their bills, or will have a bill in one person's name, and then switch it to a roommate's name when it gets too far behind.

The bottom line is that unless the account is in your name, you did not agree to pay for service from CE. I don't care if you benefited or not - that reasoning is absolute BS and CE only gets away with it because people aren't aware of their rights or can't afford to obtain legal advice. Fight it immediately - put your dispute in writing. Send them dispute letters every two weeks and call them until they take that balance off. There is no legal obligation by a non-account holder to pay a bill.

If you think about it, it truly does not make any sense and is a scam. If this was legal, then other creditors could do the same thing. A credit card company could try to charge the non-account holder with the outstanding balance, saying "well you had dinners with this person and therefore benefited from the amount charged on the card." What?? That's madness.

I can't express to you enough to fight it, and keep fighting. It will take months and they will give you stupid answers and ignore you. I'd also write a letter to the Attorney General's Office and the BBB. The more complaints they get, the higher chance we stand of them doing something about this and stopping CE from doing this to people.

CE's Lansing office's billing department fax number is 616.530.4013. Tell everyone!!

Good luck.