;LANSING -- An Ohio-based company has agreed to refund hundreds of thousands of dollars to consumers overcharged for propane gas last winter, Michigan Atty. Gen. Jennifer Granholm said.
   Granholm announced a consent decree has been signed by Level Propane Gases Inc., of Westlake, Ohio, to settle a lawsuit Michigan filed against it. The lawsuit accused Level of charging its customers more to fill their propane tanks than the amount they agreed to in their contracts.
   She said Level also will pay the state of Michigan $375,000 in court costs and expenses.
   Granholm said the company will reimburse consumers who were overcharged and will, at the consumer's option, cancel existing contracts without penalty. The company also must stop any deceptive business practices.
   All of Level's 14,000 Michigan customers and all consumers who have filed a complaint will receive a detailed explanation of their rights, she said. The settlement applies to any customer has files a complaint with the Michigan attorney general's office by Feb. 4, 2002.
   "With its broken promises, Level literally left hundreds of Michigan consumers out in the cold last winter," Granholm said in a news release.
   The settlement ends an 11-month dispute that began when Granholm's office began receiving complaints from customers who ran out of propane about a year ago.
   Granholm filed the lawsuit last June, after she received dozens of complaints against Level. She said in June her office had logged 1,287 complaints against Level.

Detroit News

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2001