Man in house freezes to death in Michigan quote from this article: "He froze to death - slowly and painfully, authorities say - days after the electric company installed a
power-limiting device because of more than $1,000 in unpaid bills."
"On Jan. 13, a worker with the city-owned utility installed a "limiter" on Schur's electric meter after four months of unpaid bills. The device restricts power and blows like a fuse if usage rises past a set level. Electricity is not restored until the device is flipped back on by the homeowner, who must walk outside to the meter.
City Electric Light & Power did not contact Schur face-to-face to notify him of the device and explain how it works, instead following its usual policy by leaving a note on the door. But neighbors said Schur rarely, if ever, left the house in the cold.
At some point, the device evidently tripped and was not reset, authorities said. Schur's home was heated by a gas furnace, not electricity, but some gas furnaces do not work properly if the power is out."
Sounds like a form of circuit breaker at the service entrance, at the meter?
