69-year-old Vietnam vet with throat cancer freezes to death after company shuts off his gas

[hue]

Source: RAWSTORY

he state of Michigan has ordered Consumers Energy to issue a report after a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran died of hypothermia when his gas was shutoff during one of the coldest months of the year.

The Detroit Free Press reported that Consumers Energy shut off the gas at the home where John Skelley was living on Jan. 19. He was found frozen to death on Feb. 1.

Although the Michigan Public Service Commission prohibits companies from shutting off heat from Nov. 1 to March 31 if there is a person older than 65 living in the home, Consumers Energy insisted that it could not have known that Skelley lived in the apartment because the bill was in someone else’s name.

Consumers Energy spokesperson Deborah Dodd told the Free Press that the service had been in the name of Joseph Mixen, who had not kept up with a payment plan to resolve an outstanding $760.28 balance that dated back to March 2012.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/69-year-old-vietnam-vet-with-throat-cancer-freezes-to-death-after-company-shuts-off-his-gas/

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[fbc]

1. Already posted

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6242507

[hue]

2. Well you're a "quickie" troll. 8 min. after I post this you're onto it. Never posted in LBN.

I'm posting this as LBN for exposure.

[samsingh]

3. kick for exposure then

[hue]

4. Thanks Sam. No one should ever die like this--with heat turned off in 1 of the coldest months!

[freshwest]

7. The gas company should require a face to face visit with those they are subjecting to freezing.

They should not be hiding behind excuses. Yes. the bill was big. But the higher ups all know there can be errors. Even if the residents aren't above 65. what of young children or others who will get sick and die when their home is cold enough to freeze them to death?

The owners of the gas company could have waited until the temperatures got above freezing. The people at the top of the food chain in MI are messed up but the people keep voting them in and letting these entities (not sure if this is a private or public gas company) will keep on doing this.

This goes deeper than this one story, of how people see each other. I hope that this will help promote a change. Isn't Michigan also the state with people who don't have running water in some cities?

[ColesCountyDem]

18. Illinois' Commerce Commision's rule on shutoffs has two critical differences:

The Commerce Commission's rules on utility shutoffs between Nov. 1 and March 31 have one provision that Michigan's do not, apparently-- neither gas nor electrical service may be interrupted for any reason between those two dates, UNLESS there is going to be a 48-hour period where the low temperature will remain above 35 degrees (72 hours, if a weekend is involved). The second provision says that, in the event utility service is interrupted for non-payment, it must be reinstated if the customer makes a $75 'good faith' payment.

Illinois' policy may not be perfect, but it's one helluva lot more humane than Michigan's.

[freshwest]

24. It is also a way to save lives, it's common sense. Thanks for the information.

[ColesCountyDem]

28. You're welcome. The CC also requires ...

The Commerce Commission also requires utility companies to renegotiate a repayment plan at least twice in any calendar year, and again requires the utility company to restore service upon payment of the $75 good-faith payment.

We have a good Commerce Commission and good utility legislation.

[samsingh]

15. i agree with you

[fbc]

5. Not a troll

Since there was already a recent thread with a discussion I thought I was being helpful.

[Divernan]

13. You followed the guidelines; OP calling you a troll was the violation.

It's understandable that sometimes somebody mistakenly posts a duplicate, as did Hue. Usually, if it pointed out to them, they have the grace to acknowledge they made a mistake. In fact, the earlier post which you linked to was already on the greatest page and had over 50 replies so was getting plenty of exposure. If there's some fine point about duplicate posts if the second post is in LBN, I'm not familiar with it - but hey, what do I know - I've only been on DU since 2002!

My point is that Hue could have simply said he/she wanted this in LBN, so wouldn't delete it. No way did you deserve the gratuitously hostile insult of being called a "quickie" troll.

The problem with duplicate threads is that it dilutes the quality of the discussion.

[Cha]

27. It's quite okay to post the same link in different forums.. it's when it's in the same forum

that one thread is usually enough.

[Ken Burch]

19. So what? Things like this deserve multiple postings.

You're being petty to make an issue of that in this case.

[Judi Lynn]

20. This is LBN, or had you not noticed? There's a difference. n/t

[salimbag]

6. Death comes early

So it's ok to freeze to death if you are 64yrs old or younger? Damn!

[Delphinus]

8. I know!

I found that really odd, too!

[DeSwiss]

9. K&R

[annabanana]

11. I love that quote . . .n/t

[sendero]

17. He a minster..

... not a minister. Small typo in an important place

[Stuart G]

10. Question, "How can this happen in a so called civilized society?"

But I know the fucking answer. Ok to freeze those under 64 years old..
Fuck them, freeze the asshole who actually turned off the heat. and the President of that fucken company too.!!

[blkmusclmachine]

12. MURDER

[MissDeeds]

14. Exactly

Turning off the heat in winter almost guarantees someone will die of exposure. It should be a criminal offense...of course it won't be, but it "should" be.

[Judi Lynn]

21. The person who makes those decisions has nothing to lose, no penalty to pay for killing people,

who would, of course, suffer unbearable panic when they realize they are freezing and have nowhere to go to avoid it.

Wretched, hateful, and wholly protected crime against humanity.

[midnight]

16. O, this makes no sense. These Energy company's make outstanding sums of money… Maybe we should

turn our attention to affordable energy for everyone. Alternative energy sources power whole towns in Germany.


As Inhabitat points out, “The accomplishment proves once again that a lack of sunshine is no obstacle to scaling up solar energy — and if the Teutons can produce record amounts of solar power under grey skies, then the potential for countries with sunnier weather and more land mass (like the United States) is limitless.”
This recent milestone is one of many for the country that stands head and shoulders above the rest of the world in its rapid embrace of solar energy. As a point of comparison, Clean Technica notes,
In terms of total solar power capacity per capita, Germany crushes every other country. At the end of 2012, it had approximately 400 MW of solar power capacity per million people, considerably more than #2 Italy at 267 MW per million people, #3 Belgium at 254 MW per million people, and #4 Czech Republic at 204 MW per million, and #5 Greece at 143 MW per million people. The US came it at #20 with about 25 MW per million people.
As Germany strives for a lofty goal of receiving 80 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2050, government subsidies are playing a big role in the rapid growth of renewable energy. Germany’s simple feed-in tariff policy, which pays renewable energy producers (e.g. solar energy producers) a set amount for the electricity they produce under long-term contracts, has driven the solar power boom. As installations continue to outpace government targets, Germany announced it will begin scaling back its feed-in tariff beginning this month.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/22/2508191/germany-solar-generation-record/

[olddots]

22. thanks for posting this

Throat cancer makes you run cold , this should not have happened .Even if this is so called clerical error this should not have happened

[Dont call me Shirley]

23. John...

I am so sorry for the suffering you endured at the hands of compassionless humans.

[Judi Lynn]

25. Kicking. n/t

[Enthusiast]

26. We can't be concerned about the elderly and disabled if we are to firmly establish Fascism.

Come on, people! Where are your priorities? Profit!