Broken promise, fatal end - 04/04/06 - The Detroit News

Broken promise, fatal end - 04/04/06 - The Detroit News: "The utility acknowledged those delays in written testimony filed to the commission "

Here is an idea, PAY YOUR BILLS!

If this guy had paid his bill on time, this would never have happened. It sucks that this happened and maybe the power company should have been more on the ball but this is not their fault. It's not like they pull the plug on you for being a few days late. My bill is like $50 a month so to get a bill up to $667 would take a while. The $667 was just the past due amount, they sent in $200 "every few weeks" so my guess is the past due bill was more like $1000. DTE is not in the charity business, they didn't get the money they were owed for several months but are expected to have everything back to normal the second they get their money? If you read the whole story you will notice they had a history of not paying the bills and once even tried to steal electricity, but the company has to rush right over and fix everything for a bad customer.

Kavanaugh, who is examining the possibility of a lawsuit against DTE or the generator manufacturer, notes that there was no warning on the generator itself, which wasn't brand new but appeared to be in good condition.

Still, this fact remains: If DTE had restored Williams' service when it said it would, he wouldn't have needed the generator. Had this guy paid his bills and/or used a little common sense he would still be alive too! But hey, lets blame the deep pockets and try to cash in. It is silly to sue the electric company but beyond absurd to sue the generator maker. He opened the windows, obviously he knew there was danger. Why not sue the mortgage company for loaning him money to buy the house? Or the company that laid off his wife? Maybe the guy that gave him the generator of death?

Once again someone makes a poor choice and we get to pay for it. Even if the lawsuits don't win, Craftsman and DTE will have to spend money defending themselves and those costs will get passed along to all of us. Not to mention the wasted tax dollars for the court, jury, judge, etc.