MUSKEGON, Mich. — Supply chain shortages continue to plague home builders including a Muskegon County woman's daughter who waited months for Consumers Energy to connect her newly built home to electricity.
Suzanne, who does not want her last name used, tells 13 ON YOUR SIDE that months of delays forced her daughter to couch surf with friends and family until she called the Help Team and we got involved.
She says the delays also prevented a lot of final pieces from being put into place. Consumers Energy says this is due to a series of delays after the work was paid for in August and the electrical was finally hooked up in December after we called.
"It just came down to, I'll tell you a lot of prayer, because it's really frustrating," Suzanne told 13 ON YOUR SIDE as she watched Consumers Energy trucks pull up to her daughter's newly built home to finally connect it to electricity.
The lot is owned by Suzanne's daughter but since Suzanne is a builder herself she offered to help her daughter.
"I said I would help her walk through the steps so I applied at Consumers Energy for power in May," she said. "I thought we could possibly have her in by October at the latest."
Suzanne says Consumers kept rescheduling her appointment.
"[They kept] giving her date after date for when they would hook up power," she said.
That led to a series of other snags forcing subcontractors to pause their own work while they waited
"[We] really wanted to paint before the cabinets," she said.
Consumers Energy said the issue was complicated and the delays had been caused by various supply issues, which prevented installation. They also blamed an unknown internal snag.
"It's wonderful," Suzanne said. "To know that there are people in place and organizations in place to help you out when you really need the help and then you know Consumers came through they did so I'm just thankful for that."
In December, crews came out to hook up their electricity.
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