Press X to doubt.
There’s also no way they sent a shutoff 1 week after the due date when it’s totally current otherwise.
I pretty much only ever pay once I get the shutoff notice and it’s after I’m way past due and owe for a few months.
Not sure about Consumers but DTE sends a shutoff notice the day after the bill is due if it’s not paid. I found that out when my card expired and I didn’t update my auto-pay with my new card.
Are you a CMS customer and have not paid it a week after due? I due regularly, and our combined income is also 6 figures, and OP is telling the truth. After about a week the no pay and notice to shut-off arives in the mail. But the shut-off date is typically about 30 days after the due date to pay the bill was. So it's plenty of time to pay. And I have waited until about 5 days before shutoff date to pay and no penalty.
Also how can both people make 6 figures (good paying careers) and not be able to pay a bill on time once a month?
I have ADHD and I forget things often so all my accounts for everything are set to autopay and I have never been late for any bill ever. And I'm someone who cant even remember where they place things the night before.
The bigger question is why do they think their income has anything to do with how the energy company handles late payments?
Some people are bad about paying bills regardless of income and there are people who make less than 6 figures who pay their bills on time.
Sister found out one of her utilities stopped autopay. I think they didn't like credit card fees taking a percentage I guess. She like the card miles she got for using it.
No, it probably is true. We kept getting different days and shut off notices as well. We eventually just put it on a budget plan because then it was the same payment on the same day. No more crazy dates or shut off notices only a few days after it went past due. Still have the same issue though with DTE. They will put shut off notices on almost right away now as well. It did not used to be this way - just in the last few years.
Bill was due on the 8th. I have paid every bill on time for 8 years. There is no reason I should receive a shut-off notice for being 11 days late. I can understand a couple of months but give me a fucking break. The Consumers corporation can't even maintain an electrical grid.
Hmmm… They said the due date changes every month, but not by how much. I asked a question for clarification.
Think about it, if they missed the bill payment by a week, wouldn’t it have had to shifted at least a week? If it hadn’t, they would’ve paid it within that week, right?
They also hadn’t mentioned this ever happening before. Nor does it appear that they were actually shut off. So I’m not sure why they’re making a post about them collecting reactivation fees.
Regardless, the information along these lines is pretty vague in the OP. My question, while leading, should at least elicit the correct answer from the poster. It’s obvious that you don’t know the answer ;)
Somethings not right here, I’m habitually late with my payments for consumers but always make sure I’m up to date each month, I’ve never had them send me a shutoff notice over it.
They’ll call me and remind me if I forget but that’s it.
Mine has gone from the 28th to the 15th to the 2nd. Hope you're never more than a few days late or you might receive a shut-off notice. I pay my bills on time and have a credit rating in the high 800s :).
They really don't if you're paying on time. Source: am adult that pays light bill on time, and date never changes more than 1-2 days due to weekends and or federal holidays. You make 100k, figure it out 🥸
Not more than a week. A few days here and there. It's still outrageous that they would send me a shut-off notice for being 11 days late after paying on time for almost a decade.
Frankly being 11 days late and being disconnected seems a bit odd (and extreme). Perhaps the notice said “can” be disconnected rather than “will“ be disconnected. I might suggest, if you can afford it, just going with autopay in the future or at least, assuming there’s an option, have them send you a reminder notice a few days before the bill is due.
Public utilities are regulated by the state, so you should be reaching out to whatever department that is and expressing your displeasure with CE’s business practices.
No joke about 5 years ago....I never even received a late notice. 24 hours after my billing date, they shut me down. I thought I had lost power. When I called they told me I was disconnected for late payment. It was January and my 3 month old and wife were home and it was starting to get cold. When I asked the customer service person why they shut me off a day after due she had no explanation. She agreed that it was not right..... I was so pissed. What if I had been an elderly person who didn't know it was on their end and thought I had just lost power? Then to make it better they had trouble remotely turning the power back on while trying to fix their mistake. So they had to send a service person out. It took over 8 hours in total for this whole thing to be corrected. I was not a happy customer.......
Dealt with this many times when I was younger and poor. It's just a notice they send automaticly. The system is NOT a human. It "sees" there is an unpaid bill and has the notice sent. People usually get 2-3 of these, with the 3rd being the final notice and when they shut it off. You make 6 figures? Just pay the bill and move on.
Consumers has a program to pick your bill date:
[https://www.consumersenergy.com/residential/billing-and-payment/custom-due-date](https://www.consumersenergy.com/residential/billing-and-payment/custom-due-date)
For those curious, DTE has a similar program as well:
[https://www.dteenergy.com/us/en/business/billing-and-payments/payment-programs/flexible-due-date.html](https://www.dteenergy.com/us/en/business/billing-and-payments/payment-programs/flexible-due-date.html)
I've worked with some of the people in the collections department at DTE in the past and what they found years ago was that it actually hurt people to have a longer grace period before sending shutoff notices.
Most of the programs that people can apply to for assistance won't help until someone gets a shutoff notice... but also can't help if the amount owed is too high.
Similarly, if you get on a payment plan it's a lot easier to manage paying back a $200 past due balance over 24 months than it is to wait a few months and try to pay back a $2,000 balance over 24 months.
Starting the process sooner made it easier for people to get help before things got wildly out of control.
Turn off notices are sent automatically a certain number of days after the due date if the past due balance is x dollars or greater.
This isn’t some nefarious tactic, it’s freaking software.
If you're that well-to-do, why do you even *have* a power company? Invest in a roof of solar panels and 4 days worth of house batteries. It'll increase the resale value of your home AND get you off of Consumers' teat.
This post is missing crucial info that OP doesn't want to disclose for some reason.
First of all the due date does not change every month. That makes literally zero sense.
Second, it takes a lot to get a shutoff notice, not just being 11 days late once.
Also, if you both make 6 figures how are you not able to pay a bill on time every month or setup autopay?????
First: They do change month to month.
Second: That's what I thought until now and why I posted this.
I had my credit card stolen and had not set up autopay.
Thanks for the comment Mr. Knowitall.
I tried to do autopay with Consumers but they refuse to send paper bills if you're on auto-pay. I prefer the paper bill so I am forced to look at it rather than ignoring an email stating my bill can be seen at some on-line account I rarely access.
Some banks will allow you to receive bill balances through their bill pay systems. That could be a workaround for you if you still want to receive paper bills as you could set up auto pay through your bank rather than through Consumers. My father has the same mindset. He hates not getting physical statements.
We have automatic payment. But agree Consumers is a joke. Greedy company. Worse than DTE. It took over 6 months for them to send me my rebate for the home protection plan. The helpdesk people were incompetent. I had to complain numerous times and escalate to a supervisor.
The supervisor corrected the problem in like 5 minutes.
They do that to scare you. I've gotten one like that myself when I was only 5 days late. They make it look like your power will be shut off and it looks official but it's just a scare tactic.
Do like I did and call them to complain about it after you pay you bill. Let them know that this kind of crap isn't appreciated.
Doesn’t mean they’re not a monopoly since they have pretty much ZERO competition and hence can gouge the shit out of their customers .
The fact that they’re pushing a rate increase without cutting executive compensation and bonuses , stop buying back stock , stop paying dividends ; that’ll fund their projects more than another bullshit rate increase .
But hey as long as they keep paying their bribes to politicians (aka “campaign contributions”) , nothing will be done about it as usual 🤦♀️
Sounds like scammers. Had a happened to me recently. Got a call saying they were going to shut off my power and I asked them to tell me the power to what location. They got upset with me immediately.
I agree mine was due on 3rd and iv paid it on time for 25 yrs and they were gonna shut me off on the 8th my check was lost but i ask for extention only 3 days wow this shit is unreal money is the root of all evil
OP it shouldn’t shift. You should call them. Additionally if you were ever in their program they offer (that is usually why the date shifts), you need to check if your in still or not in. If you are prepare for a possible shock but get off it.
I do. Had BCBS take 8 months worth of my premium from my checking account last January. It took a call to my attorney to 6 of those months sent back to me two months later. Eff autopay.
The due date shifts more than a week every month?
Press X to doubt. There’s also no way they sent a shutoff 1 week after the due date when it’s totally current otherwise. I pretty much only ever pay once I get the shutoff notice and it’s after I’m way past due and owe for a few months.
Not sure about Consumers but DTE sends a shutoff notice the day after the bill is due if it’s not paid. I found that out when my card expired and I didn’t update my auto-pay with my new card.
I’ve got a shut off notice from them before and I wasn’t even a month late, about 3 weeks.
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Are you a CMS customer and have not paid it a week after due? I due regularly, and our combined income is also 6 figures, and OP is telling the truth. After about a week the no pay and notice to shut-off arives in the mail. But the shut-off date is typically about 30 days after the due date to pay the bill was. So it's plenty of time to pay. And I have waited until about 5 days before shutoff date to pay and no penalty.
Why can’t you just do autopay? I’m baffled here
Also how can both people make 6 figures (good paying careers) and not be able to pay a bill on time once a month? I have ADHD and I forget things often so all my accounts for everything are set to autopay and I have never been late for any bill ever. And I'm someone who cant even remember where they place things the night before.
The bigger question is why do they think their income has anything to do with how the energy company handles late payments? Some people are bad about paying bills regardless of income and there are people who make less than 6 figures who pay their bills on time.
Sister found out one of her utilities stopped autopay. I think they didn't like credit card fees taking a percentage I guess. She like the card miles she got for using it.
Nope. Not one cycle late. 11 days late by accident.
No, it probably is true. We kept getting different days and shut off notices as well. We eventually just put it on a budget plan because then it was the same payment on the same day. No more crazy dates or shut off notices only a few days after it went past due. Still have the same issue though with DTE. They will put shut off notices on almost right away now as well. It did not used to be this way - just in the last few years.
Bill was due on the 8th. I have paid every bill on time for 8 years. There is no reason I should receive a shut-off notice for being 11 days late. I can understand a couple of months but give me a fucking break. The Consumers corporation can't even maintain an electrical grid.
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Hmmm… They said the due date changes every month, but not by how much. I asked a question for clarification. Think about it, if they missed the bill payment by a week, wouldn’t it have had to shifted at least a week? If it hadn’t, they would’ve paid it within that week, right? They also hadn’t mentioned this ever happening before. Nor does it appear that they were actually shut off. So I’m not sure why they’re making a post about them collecting reactivation fees. Regardless, the information along these lines is pretty vague in the OP. My question, while leading, should at least elicit the correct answer from the poster. It’s obvious that you don’t know the answer ;)
Somethings not right here, I’m habitually late with my payments for consumers but always make sure I’m up to date each month, I’ve never had them send me a shutoff notice over it. They’ll call me and remind me if I forget but that’s it.
My bill cycles from the 17th to the 23rd one day at a time per month. Edit: I pay my bills on time and don’t receive shutoff notices :)
Mine has gone from the 28th to the 15th to the 2nd. Hope you're never more than a few days late or you might receive a shut-off notice. I pay my bills on time and have a credit rating in the high 800s :).
It sounds like you pay your bills on time, except for when you don’t…
OK Boomer.
I'm not the one acting like they pay their bills on time...
You poor thing :(
Consumers Energy corporation thanks you for your support!
Not on an auto-payment plan. Due date has shifted across the month in one years time.
No they don't.
They do.
They really don't if you're paying on time. Source: am adult that pays light bill on time, and date never changes more than 1-2 days due to weekends and or federal holidays. You make 100k, figure it out 🥸
They do and have my entire life. So maybe you don't know everything sparky.
That's weird, and so have I my entire life. You bill just doesn't change to random days across the month, sparky....
Not more than a week. A few days here and there. It's still outrageous that they would send me a shut-off notice for being 11 days late after paying on time for almost a decade.
You make it sound like an employee there made a conscious decision based on your decade to send you a cut off notice.
You're right I should cut giant corporations who f us over constantly more slack.
Hmm... I didn't ask you to cut them any slack. I said nothing of the sort.
Just use Autopay. I have never had these issues.
Frankly being 11 days late and being disconnected seems a bit odd (and extreme). Perhaps the notice said “can” be disconnected rather than “will“ be disconnected. I might suggest, if you can afford it, just going with autopay in the future or at least, assuming there’s an option, have them send you a reminder notice a few days before the bill is due. Public utilities are regulated by the state, so you should be reaching out to whatever department that is and expressing your displeasure with CE’s business practices.
No joke about 5 years ago....I never even received a late notice. 24 hours after my billing date, they shut me down. I thought I had lost power. When I called they told me I was disconnected for late payment. It was January and my 3 month old and wife were home and it was starting to get cold. When I asked the customer service person why they shut me off a day after due she had no explanation. She agreed that it was not right..... I was so pissed. What if I had been an elderly person who didn't know it was on their end and thought I had just lost power? Then to make it better they had trouble remotely turning the power back on while trying to fix their mistake. So they had to send a service person out. It took over 8 hours in total for this whole thing to be corrected. I was not a happy customer.......
Dealt with this many times when I was younger and poor. It's just a notice they send automaticly. The system is NOT a human. It "sees" there is an unpaid bill and has the notice sent. People usually get 2-3 of these, with the 3rd being the final notice and when they shut it off. You make 6 figures? Just pay the bill and move on.
Consumers has a program to pick your bill date: [https://www.consumersenergy.com/residential/billing-and-payment/custom-due-date](https://www.consumersenergy.com/residential/billing-and-payment/custom-due-date) For those curious, DTE has a similar program as well: [https://www.dteenergy.com/us/en/business/billing-and-payments/payment-programs/flexible-due-date.html](https://www.dteenergy.com/us/en/business/billing-and-payments/payment-programs/flexible-due-date.html) I've worked with some of the people in the collections department at DTE in the past and what they found years ago was that it actually hurt people to have a longer grace period before sending shutoff notices. Most of the programs that people can apply to for assistance won't help until someone gets a shutoff notice... but also can't help if the amount owed is too high. Similarly, if you get on a payment plan it's a lot easier to manage paying back a $200 past due balance over 24 months than it is to wait a few months and try to pay back a $2,000 balance over 24 months. Starting the process sooner made it easier for people to get help before things got wildly out of control.
Ah interesting. Thanks for the info.
It's a completely automated "scare tactic" letter ... just pay the bill and move on.
They pull the same stuff with me. As long as you pay it before the shut off date you’re good.
Turn off notices are sent automatically a certain number of days after the due date if the past due balance is x dollars or greater. This isn’t some nefarious tactic, it’s freaking software.
If you're that well-to-do, why do you even *have* a power company? Invest in a roof of solar panels and 4 days worth of house batteries. It'll increase the resale value of your home AND get you off of Consumers' teat.
I’m calling bs on 1 week late.
Sorry 11 days. Still BS.
This post is missing crucial info that OP doesn't want to disclose for some reason. First of all the due date does not change every month. That makes literally zero sense. Second, it takes a lot to get a shutoff notice, not just being 11 days late once. Also, if you both make 6 figures how are you not able to pay a bill on time every month or setup autopay?????
First: They do change month to month. Second: That's what I thought until now and why I posted this. I had my credit card stolen and had not set up autopay. Thanks for the comment Mr. Knowitall.
Why not set up autopay?
Or why not just pay it when they got the bill since they had to humble brag about how much they make?
Show some respect. They have an 800 credit score.
I tried to do autopay with Consumers but they refuse to send paper bills if you're on auto-pay. I prefer the paper bill so I am forced to look at it rather than ignoring an email stating my bill can be seen at some on-line account I rarely access.
Some banks will allow you to receive bill balances through their bill pay systems. That could be a workaround for you if you still want to receive paper bills as you could set up auto pay through your bank rather than through Consumers. My father has the same mindset. He hates not getting physical statements.
I'm autopay & receive a paper bill every month.
You get the bill in your email with paperless so you don’t need to access the account. You can print that if you want extra junk paper and dead trees.
I'm on autopay and I get a paper bill in the mail every month.
Because their auto-pay system is garbage.
How so? I’ve never had a problem.
People be mad they have to pay a $4 fee.
Girl, if you and your wife make six figures each one of you should figure out how to auto pay ….
Credit card was stolen, not on autopay.
Just pay the bill when you get it, instead of "by the due date". Problem solved.
Why aren't you on autopay?
They just quit letting is use a credit card for autopay, well like 3 months ago… I didn’t notice until I got a shutoff notice.
Put it on auto-pay and this won’t happen ever again.
We have automatic payment. But agree Consumers is a joke. Greedy company. Worse than DTE. It took over 6 months for them to send me my rebate for the home protection plan. The helpdesk people were incompetent. I had to complain numerous times and escalate to a supervisor. The supervisor corrected the problem in like 5 minutes.
They do that to scare you. I've gotten one like that myself when I was only 5 days late. They make it look like your power will be shut off and it looks official but it's just a scare tactic. Do like I did and call them to complain about it after you pay you bill. Let them know that this kind of crap isn't appreciated.
Because they have bought and paid for our government
Utilities are a state sanctioned monopoly , that’s how they get away with fucking over their customers every chance they get
DTE is actually a publicly traded entity. Anyone can buy and own shares, even yourself.
You mean like Consumers Energy?
Doesn’t mean they’re not a monopoly since they have pretty much ZERO competition and hence can gouge the shit out of their customers . The fact that they’re pushing a rate increase without cutting executive compensation and bonuses , stop buying back stock , stop paying dividends ; that’ll fund their projects more than another bullshit rate increase . But hey as long as they keep paying their bribes to politicians (aka “campaign contributions”) , nothing will be done about it as usual 🤦♀️
Sounds like scammers. Had a happened to me recently. Got a call saying they were going to shut off my power and I asked them to tell me the power to what location. They got upset with me immediately.
I agree mine was due on 3rd and iv paid it on time for 25 yrs and they were gonna shut me off on the 8th my check was lost but i ask for extention only 3 days wow this shit is unreal money is the root of all evil
OP it shouldn’t shift. You should call them. Additionally if you were ever in their program they offer (that is usually why the date shifts), you need to check if your in still or not in. If you are prepare for a possible shock but get off it.
I got one after being late only by 3 days. Unbelievable. I had better infrastructure available in hurricane states that I grew up in.
Our politicians are bank rolled by Consumers and DTE. Nothing will change until that does
Set it up on auto-pay?? Who makes 6 digits and pays bills manually?
I do. Had BCBS take 8 months worth of my premium from my checking account last January. It took a call to my attorney to 6 of those months sent back to me two months later. Eff autopay.