I’m sure you have all heard the story:
93 year old man freezes in his own home
I’m not placing blame here only verbally sharing my thoughts….
I can totaly understand why the power company put a restrictor on Mr. Schur’s meter….he owed over $1,000.00 to the power company and apparently had made no payment arrangements. No one knows if Mr. Schur read the note left on his front door explaining the restrictor and what to do if it trips to off because he used all of the allotted amount of electricity.
I understand that the power company is a business and simply cannot afford (nor should it) to give away free power.
However, in retrospect, I think new policies need to be implemented so something like this does not happen again….anywhere.
It is unfortunate that Mr. Schur did not have any family or close friends that kept tabs on him….and I understand it’s not the power company’s responsiblity to know all about each of its’ customers…
But…
I can’t help but wonder if the power company knew (from past communications) that Mr. Schur was an elderly gentleman.
It seems to me if the power company knew they were dealing with an elderly person and this person had not made any payments nor contacted them regarding some kind of payment plan it would have made somebody wonder why! An electricity bill with a balance of $1,000.00 tells me that it had been several months since they received a payment. I know here the power company will not shut off your power during the winter months especially if you have called to make payment arrangements.
Why didn’t (or couldn’t) the power company send somebody out there in person to actually talk to Mr. Schur to make sure he understood the ramifications of having a restrictor put on his meter instead of just leaving a note on his door and assume he would see it?
Why didn’t (or couldn’t) the power company call Social Services and have someone sent out to check on Mr. Schur to make sure he was still mentally capable of understanding and comprehending his surroundings and paying his bills thereby keeping the heat on?
Yes, I know it’s not their job to keep tabs on their elderly customers but if they DID know of Mr. Schur’s age what is the harm in taking a few extra minutes and make sure he understood what the power company was going to do?
It is sad that it appears that none of his neighbors really kept track of him or checked in with him on a regular basis.
We have an elderly gentleman on our street and hubs and I are always watching each morning to make sure his drapes open and there is movement in his house. He has a routine, more or less, and any deviation from that routine is a red flag for us and we go check on him. If he is going to be out of town for any length of time he always lets us know so we dont worry.
I wish every neighborhood was like that.
If you have elderly people in your neighborhood please keep an eye on them and check in with them on a regular basis. Not everyone has someone that cares.
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BAY CITY, Mich. – A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.
Marvin E. Schur died “a slow, painful death,” said Kanu Virani, Oakland County’s deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy.
Neighbors discovered Schur’s body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City Times reported Monday.
“Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly,” Virani said. “It’s not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they’re burning.”
‘Limiter’ device installed
Schur owed Bay City Electric Light & Power more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills, Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told The Associated Press on Monday.
A city utility worker had installed a “limiter” device to restrict the use of electricity at Schur’s home on Jan. 13, said Belleman. The device limits power reaching a home and blows out like a fuse if consumption rises past a set level. Power is not restored until the device is reset.
The limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of Schur’s body, Belleman said. He didn’t know if anyone had made personal contact with Schur to explain how the device works.
The body was discovered by neighbor George Pauwels Jr.
“His furnace was not running, the insides of his windows were full of ice the morning we found him,” Pauwels told the Bay City News.
Power shut off if bills unpaid
Belleman said city workers keep the limiter on houses for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn’t paid utility bills or arranged to do so.
He said Bay City Electric Light & Power’s policies will be reviewed, but he didn’t believe the city did anything wrong.
“I’ve said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors,” Belleman said. “When they think there’s something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department.”
Schur had no children and his wife had died several years ago.
Bay City is on Saginaw Bay, just north of the city of Saginaw in central Michigan.
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Rebecca
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