Thoughtlessness Crosses All Boundaries

[rowyn]

pyat linked to this article about a 93 year-old man who froze to death after the utility company put a limiter on his service due to non-payment. Two things in particular, apart from the obvious "wow that sucks", struck me about it:

* This is a public utility run by the city.
* Private utilities are regulated by Michigan state law and cannot shut off service to senior citizens between November and April.

And it's just ... ngh! The trouble with organizations is that whether they're public or private, they're still run by people.

*sigh*

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Oh lovely. He didn't pay his bill because he was going senile and didn't remember how to pay bills, and the utility didn't put any effort into his case because they were having to shut off power to dozens of people every day, because this is Michigan. And they don't have any information about the age or health of their customers... but there are laws about what they can do that rely on the age and health of the customers?

And their response: "Um, yeah, since it's cold we'll stop shutting off power to *anyone*." They might as well just say 'don't bother paying your bills until spring'. x.x

[rowyn]

It's not *quite* as horrible as "don't pay your bills until spring". Even if the utility company couldn't shut off your power ever, you'd still wreck your credit rating if you refused to pay. And they can take you to court and get a garnishment on your account, and charge you late fees and interest and penalties. So they're not wholly without recourse.

I suspect utility companies generally do know the age of their customers; they probably track birthdates in their system because there are contractual obligations that minors can't enter into legally, if nothing else.

But, yeah. The problem sucks and all the solutions kinda suck too. :/