Michigan power outages down to 125,000 as DTE, Consumers make push to repair lines
As of early Tuesday morning, nearly a 125,000 utility customers in Michigan were waiting for their lights — and heat — to be restored.
The good news is Tuesday's forecast calls for highs in the 40s, winds of 15-20 mph, maybe some snow flurries in the morning, but an otherwise dry day, which would benefit Michigan's two biggest utilities — DTE and Consumers — as they make their push to repair most of the remaining lines to Michiganders in the dark.
"Our commitment to our customers is nothing less than all hands on deck," Jeff Shingler, one of Consumers Energy’s executives said at 6 a.m. "We appreciate people’s patience and understanding while we expect crews to make progress on a clear day today."
By 7 a.m., DTE's and Consumer Energy's outage centers showed there were about 51,000 and nearly 74,000 customers with out power. The numbers for both companies fluctuated as as some had power restored, while ice from a milder storm on Monday took out tens of thousands more.
For customers, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has called on DTE and Consumers Energy to start routinely issuing $35 credits when customers lose power for extended periods. That's $10 more than the usual state-set $25 per customer for outages.
DTE said it would do so for this batch of outages and customers who are out of power for 96 consecutive hours would not have to apply for the credit. The utility said in a statement: "Customers should note that it may take one to two billing cycles for the credit to appear on their bill."
More:More bad weather for Michigan sets back repairs, adds more outages
Still, some customers have said that $35 is still inadequate, considering how much was lost in spoiled food, and in some cases, the hundreds of dollars it costs to stay in a hotel for several days. The burden is heaviest on families with young children and the elderly. Without electricity, most homes also do not have heat or hot water.
Nessel also took the companies to task by saying that, despite the utilities' frequent requests for higher rates, and their promises to improve, they have "failed to adequately invest in their own infrastructure or prepare for these storm events, choosing instead to leave ratepayers in the dark."
Bad weather set back efforts Monday and is hampering the efforts of thousands of exhausted line workers. Many of them are from other states and have been battling Mother Nature and Father Time for days as they race against the clock in frozen rain to make the most difficult repairs yet, utility executives have said.
Up to two-tenths of ice coated trees Monday in central Oakland County and parts of Macomb County, said Steve Freitag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake.
In addition, DTE said, many of the latest power outages are to individual homes, which are the most challenging and time consuming to fix, making the power restoration prioritization and timeline all that more complicated to determine.
The remainder of Michiganders without power is only a small slice of utility customers overall, between 2% and 4%, but for some, who haven't have electricity for nearly week, it has been a nightmare. It also has become a public relations problem both electric utilities.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com. Staff writer Bill Laytner contributed.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan power outages dip as DTE, Consumers make push to repair lines
