Consumers, DTE expect power to be restored to most today

Aurora Sousanis and David Panian, The Daily Telegram
·2 min read

DTE and Consumers Energy employees have been working long days to turn the lights back on for Michiganders affected by last week's severe weather. As of 1 p.m. Monday, about 47,000 residential and business customers remained in the dark across the state.

After severe thunderstorms and a record-breaking seven tornadoes ripped through central and southeast lower Michigan, more than 400,000 customers of DTE Energy and Consumers Energy reported power outages.

DTE said power had been restored by Sunday evening to nearly 98% of its customers impacted by Thursday night's storms.

"We have restored the vast majority of customers," DTE said Monday on its outage website. "Remaining outages in areas where extreme damage occurred to electrical equipment should be restored today."

According to DTE's outage map, 20,320 customers remained without power Monday afternoon — down from 253,000 on midafternoon Friday.

In Monroe County, 1,800 DTE customers remained without power Monday afternoon, according to the online outage map.

Shannon Johnson, a DTE Energy employee, smiles as she gives a care package to a Detroit resident during a storm relief giveaway Saturday at a Meijer parking lot in Detroit.
Shannon Johnson, a DTE Energy employee, smiles as she gives a care package to a Detroit resident during a storm relief giveaway Saturday at a Meijer parking lot in Detroit.

By Monday afternoon, Consumers Energy had restored power to 85% of its nearly 200,000 affected customers, according to a news release. The utility said it used Sunday as a day to focus on restoring power to schools as the new academic year starts.

Fewer than 29,0000 customers remained without power as of Monday morning, Consumers said.

“Today is all about the final push and executing safely to restore power for our remaining customers who have been so patient in challenging circumstances,” Scott McIntosh, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm, said in Monday's news release. “Our crews are continuing their around-the-clock efforts and will focus on the hardest-hit circuits. As always, safety is our top priority, especially with schools back in session in most communities.”

Consumers said it will restore power in communities hit hardest by the end of today. Those communities are:

  • Jackson County, including Jackson, Napoleon, Brooklyn and surrounding areas.

  • Kent County, including Plainfield, Lowell and surrounding areas.

  • Ionia County, including Saranac, Clarksville and surrounding areas.

  • Ingham County, including Stockbridge and the surrounding area.

  • Eaton County, including Grand Ledge, Dimondale, Potterville and surrounding areas.

  • Livingston County, including Cohoctah Township, Deerfield Township and surrounding areas.

About 1,500 Consumers customers in the Brooklyn area were without power as of Monday afternoon, according to Consumers' online outage map. There were 5,374 affected customers throughout Jackson County and 529 in Lenawee County.

Consumers said it has partnered with agencies in six other states in order to restore customers power.

Customers can check the status of outages at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. They can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text ‘REG' to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.

Both utilities continue to urge people to stay away from any downed lines, and be careful when passing work crews on the side of the road.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Consumers Energy and DTE work to turn the lights back on to customers