Five Channels Employees Present $5,000 Grant To Local Nonprofit

JACKSON, Mich., Dec. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Five Channels Hydroelectric Dam employees today presented a $5,000 grant from the Consumers Energy Foundation to Hale Area Fish, a local nonprofit that helps meet basic community needs.

Five Channels employees earned the chance to select a local nonprofit organization to receive a grant by winning the grand prize in Consumers Energy's companywide "Ethics in Action" awards program. The program recognizes employees who display the highest commitment to compliance and ethical standards.

Five Channels management and Consumers Energy senior executives presented the $5,000 check to Hale Area Fish at a ceremony at Eagle Ridge Golf Course.

"We believe giving back is a major component of what it means to be a highly ethical company," said David Mengebier, chief compliance officer for Consumers Energy and its parent company, CMS Energy. "That's why this connection between our internal dedication to compliance and ethics and our external philanthropic efforts is so unique and meaningful."

The Five Channels dam, which began operating on the Au Sable River in 1912, generates up to 6,000 kilowatts of renewable electricity for utility customers.

"The employees at Five Channels embody the integrity and ethical values that have served our company well for the past 125 years," Mengebier said.

In addition to the Five Channels facility, Consumers Energy honored two facilities — the North Kent (Sparta) and Macomb (Clinton Twp.) service centers — as finalists. Nine individual CMS Energy employees also were recognized.

Consumers Energy, the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE:  CMS), provides natural gas and electricity to 6.8 million of Michigan's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

For more information regarding Consumers Energy, visit us at: www.consumersenergy.com or join us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/consumersenergymichigan

SOURCE Consumers Energy