New Consumers Energy Bill Provides Easy-to-Understand Information for Michigan Homes, Businesses

Energy Provider Sends Out 36 Million Bills to Customers each Year

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Aug 20, 2015, 06:00 ET

JACKSON, Mich., Aug. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers Energy is providing a new, more streamlined bill for its customers, which is being sent by mail and email this week to households and businesses across Michigan.

"We want to make it simple for residents and business owners to understand their bills and easily find and use the information they need," said Garrick Rochow, Consumers Energy's vice president and chief customer officer. "Our redesigned bill provides the essentials, such as the amount due, due date and variety of ways to pay, and it will help people make informed decisions about their energy use by providing detailed historical information."

The changes are reflected in paper bills and in bills that Consumers Energy customers receive electronically. Each year, Consumers Energy sends more than 36 million bills to 3 million households and businesses.

The new bill is the result of more than six months of research and includes suggestions from residential and business customers. In response to their comments, bills now will include 13 months of past energy use information for households and 24 months for businesses.

Other features:

A simpler design with larger, more colorful text and graphics will make bills easier to read and understand.
From auto-pay, to same-day payment by phone and more, you'll be able to view all the ways to pay your bill in the same place on each bill.
Besides past monthly energy use, the new bill also contains information on how much energy customers used per day in the previous month, and how much it cost per day.

"We want to provide the people we serve with the tools to understand and manage their energy use, and these new bills are a significant step to help them do that," Rochow said.

Learn more about Consumers Energy's redesigned bill at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/newbill.

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.6 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

For more information about Consumers Energy, go to www.ConsumersEnergy.com.

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MORE INFO: Learn more about Consumers Energy's new bill: www.ConsumersEnergy.com/newbill

ENERGY ANSWERS: Learn about ways to save on your bill, assistance options, energy efficiency and more: www.ConsumersEnergy.com/energyanswers

SOURCE Consumers Energy