Welcome to the Settlement Website for the East Lansing Electric Settlement

If You Received Electric Service From the Lansing Board Of Water and Light (“LBWL”) in The City Of East Lansing (The “City”), and Paid The “Franchise Fees” Imposed By The City at any Time Between April 2, 2019, and April 30, 2025 and Wish to Receive a Cash Refund, You Must Submit a Claim Form on or before September 2, 2025.

You Can File a Claim Online by Clicking Here.

A proposed settlement in the amount of Seven Million Eight Hundred Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy-One Dollars and Thirteen Cents ($7,800,971.13) has been reached with the City in a class action lawsuit pending in Ingham County Circuit Court titled James Heos v. City of East Lansing, Case No. 2020-199-CZ, Hon. Judge Wanda Stokes presiding (the “Lawsuit”), which challenges the “Franchise Fees” imposed by the City on citizens whose properties received electric service from the LBWL between April 2, 2019, and April 30, 2025.

“Plaintiff” is an individual who owns property in the City and who has paid the City’s Franchise Fees. Plaintiff contends on behalf of himself, and others similarly situated, that the Franchise Fees: (a) the Franchise Fees are not proper user fees, but taxes wrongfully imposed by the City to raise revenue in violation of the Headlee Amendment to the Michigan constitution of 1963; (b) the Franchise Fees violate the Prohibited Taxes By Cities And Villages Act, MCL 141.91 because the Franchise Fees are not ad valorem taxes, but are taxes imposed, levied, or collected after January 1, 1964; (c) by imposing the Franchise Fees, the City has violated state equal protection guarantees; (d) the City has imposed the Franchise Fees in violation of the Foote Act; and (e) that Plaintiff and those similarly situated have been harmed by the City’s collection and retention of the Franchise Fees.

The City has maintained and continues to maintain that the City’s imposition of the Franchise Fees is proper and not unlawful.

For settlement purposes, the parties have agreed that the Class will consist of all persons or entities who/which paid Franchise Fees to the City through the payment to the LBWL for electric service at any time between April 2, 2019, and April 30, 2025 (the “Class”). If you received notice, it is because the LBWL’s records indicate that you paid the LBWL for electrical service between April 2, 2019, and April 30, 2025, and thus paid the Franchise Fees and are therefore a member of the Class.