LANSING – The

Public Service Commission on Monday adopted recommendations made by its staff

in its April 30 report on circumstances of a natural gas shut-off in Hazel Park

where hypothermia was reported to be a possible contributing factor in a death

occurring there.

Specifically,

the Commission directed all PSC staff, regulated gas and electric utilities,

and other interested stakeholders to convene a collaborative work group to

identify industry best practices on ways to better communicate with, and

protect, vulnerable customers during extreme weather conditions.

The matter

dates back to February, when the PSC learned of the death of a 69-year-old man

who had been living in a house in Hazel Park and was discovered dead by another

occupant of the home. Local news reports indicated the natural gas service to

the house had been shut off in mid-January for non-payment of a past due

amount, but the investigation determined there was no indication whether

Consumers Energy, which was in charge of the natural gas service at the

residence, had been made aware of the man’s presence at the residence, or that

Consumers was aware the now-deceased man’s health might have been put at risk

by shuttering gas service.

It was not

immediately clear what the man actually did die from, as that has been redacted

from the report provided by the PSC.

Consumers is

to play a lead role in organizing the collaborative, the PSC indicated Monday.

Monday’s

order directed utilities to submit their adopted policies related to the matter

to the Commission for approval no later than six months after the rules take

effect (Case U-17844).

DTE NATURAL

GAS INCREASE: The Public Service Commission on Monday approved a settlement

related to the annual review of DTE Gas Company’s costs related to its main

renewal, meter move-out, and pipeline integrity programs and an infrastructure

recovery mechanism surcharge that will result in an increase of 66 cents on the

monthly bills of residential customers using 100 ccf of natural gas per month

(Case U-16999).

CONSUMERS

SURCHARGE: The PSC also approved a settlement authorizing Consumers Energy

Company to recover more than $333,000 from electric customers in the October

2015 billing month, so residential customers using 500 kilowatt-hours of

electricity per month will see an increase in the surcharge of 6 cents during

that billing month (Case U-17825).

ALTERNATIVE

ELECTRIC SUPPLIER: The Commission granted a license to Eligo Energy MI, LLC, as

an alternative electric supplier (Case U-17697) and as an alternative gas supplier (Case U-17814). The company is a privately-held, wholly-owned

subsidiary of Elio Energy, LLC, headquartered in Chicago.

The PSC also

directed the company to notify the Commission in writing of the address of its

yet-to-be-established Michigan office prior to engaging in any marketing

activity. It also opened a separate docket (Case U-17855) for the company to submit a renewable energy plan.

This story

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