Utilities cut power to US customers while taking huge Covid tax credits

Tax bailouts would have paid for debt forgiveness many times over but instead companies left struggling households in the dark

When the pandemic hit in early 2020 and music studios around Detroit closed, Oliver Owens, a producer and entrepreneur, saw his income dwindle and bills grow.

By late April, the single father of three faced $243 in electric debt, and DTE Energy, Michigan's largest utility, cut power to his east side townhome, leaving him stressed" and scrambling for assistance from family members and local non-profits.