Frequent power outages have Ann Arbor residents, businesses wanting change from DTE
Frequent power outages in Ann Arbor, many lasting for several days, have sparked frustration and talks of a municipal electric utility within the community.
Ann Arbor for Public Power (A2P2), a nonprofit coalition advocating for a 100% renewable and public-owned electric utility in the city, has been calling for a separation from DTE Energy for years.
"A municipal utility is a utility service which is owned by a city or town," according to the organization. "In Ann Arbor, and most towns, the water and sewer services are municipal utilities. There are over 2000 municipal electric utilities in the country; in fact, 42 municipal electric utilities already exist in Michigan, in cities like Lansing, Traverse City and Chelsea."
The latest step in the saga came last week, when severe thunderstorms sweeping through southeast Michigan knocked out power for tens of thousands of customers, including many in Ann Atbor who lost their power for days, residents and businesses alike.
Small businesses taking big hits
Studio Studio, an event venue in Ann Arbor, has suffered three major power outages this year alone, said owner and founder Abby Rosenbaum. The most recent round of storms last week knocked out power Wednesday through Friday.
"We've had power outages that lasted four or five days," Rosenbaum said. "This particular stretch of Packard (St.) in Ann Arbor seems to get hit relentlessly every time there is an issue. ...The last time we were down for several days we had to cancel some events and refund somebody, which is a hit for a small business."
Despite the outage, Studio Studio successfully hosted a wedding Friday. However, it was not without having to scramble and acquire new equipment.
"It was the heat, more than anything, that made it difficult. We were without A.C.," she said. "But we were able to borrow a generator from a friend so that at least gave us some outlets to plug into so we could get some fans going."
"We had to run out and buy LED lamps for the bathrooms, we had cords everywhere so that we could have some light for the couple, our sound system was down but we managed to just bring in some Bluetooth speakers," she said. "It wasn't a terrible disaster, but it was definitely stressful."
Power outages can result in significant financial losses for residents and small businesses, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars in spoiled food.
The restaurant that catered Studio Studio's Friday wedding — Eat, also on Packard St. in Ann Arbor — announced its immediate closure Tuesday, expedited by the power outage.
"While we had planned to stay open throughout the summer, after yet another power outage caused us to lose our entire inventory, we have decided not to reopen," according to the statement.
Eat's Packard location will continue to offer catering services until mid-September. The Kerrytown location remains open, providing full service.
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Pushing for municipal utility services
A feasibility study is underway, funded by the City of Ann Arbor, to determine the costs of a municipal electric utility service and the value of DTE's assets in Ann Arbor, said A2P2 Executive Director Don Lee. The study is expected to be completed after Labor Day.
While a sustainable energy utility (SEU) is also being pushed and could provide renewable energy to residents during a DTE Energy outage by utilizing solar power stored in batteries, A2P2 is advocating for "total municipalization," Lee said. "SEU is a good idea, but we view it as an onramp to municipalization. It sort of would act as an adjacent utility, which I think presents some inefficiencies, but we're supportive of it because we want to see decarbonization happening as quickly as possible."
The municipalization of electric utilities is not only more equitable, reliable and often more cost-effective, it would also generate local union jobs and ensure that utility funds remain within the community, according to A2P2.
"What we have now is not working," Rosenbaum said, backing municipal utility services. "I think it's only going to continue to get worse as we enter this era of climate crisis. I'm anticipating more of this severe weather and outages, and DTE really doesn't seem to be up to the test. ... Anything is better than this."
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DTE Energy's response
In an email to the Free Press, DTE Energy stated the following:
DTE is in a strong position to help Ann Arbor achieve the community’s clean energy goals. Investor-owned utilities like DTE can deploy capital quickly, at low costs.
Over the past five years, DTE has invested more than $5 billion in our infrastructure, including more than $175 million in our electrical grid in Washtenaw County alone. We’ve been trimming trees, hardening infrastructure, building new substations, connecting new customers and replacing aging equipment. Ann Arbor has a goal to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030. And DTE is committed to helping the city get there.
Between DTE’s wind and solar projects and local participation in MIGreenPower, we’re already 30% of the way toward Ann Arbor's carbon reduction goals. In other words, 30 percent of the energy Ann Arbor receives can be attributed to renewable resources. More than 10,000 residential customers in Washtenaw County are enrolled in our MIGreenPower program as are the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College and the Ann Arbor Public School system and numerous local businesses.
Municipalization means that a community purchases the distribution system of the electric company at today’s market value. These costs could be very significant. This does not include the cost of buying or generating electricity for customers or the ongoing costs of running the system once purchased. The community also must factor in costs for ongoing grid modernization investments, grid security, and reliability.
DTE Energy
Contact Nour Rahal: nrahal@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ann Arbor power outages irking residents, businesses
