When will the lights — and heat — come on again?
Utility crews in Michigan are working to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Michigan. Yet, for most of Friday, the totals hardly seemed to change with DTE reporting early Friday morning and into the afternoon more than 460,000 customers still in the dark.
By early evening, the numbers finally started to plummet, with Jerry Norcia, DTE Energy's president and CEO, promising that the company is "taking this very seriously" and predicting that by Saturday morning, its outages would be cut in half. As of 10 p.m., DTE reported 360,000 customers were without power.
Consumers Energy's totals fell slightly to 175,000 during the day, and by 6 p.m., to about 155,000. As of 10 p.m., the numer was below 140,000.
DTE and Consumers Energy — the state's two largest utilities — have said they expect most of their customers will have power back sometime Sunday. That's if the weather cooperates. Weather forecasters said the utilities may finally catch a break this weekend when it is expected to warm up.
"We do understand how much hardship this does create for our customers, especially seniors and families, and families with young children," Norcia said during a Friday afternoon news conference in Canton. "I want to assure you we are working as safely and as quickly as possible."
Norcia added that the company also is checking on its most vulnerable customers, calling on them and even going to their homes to make sure they are safe.
The utility chief, who acknowledged that the power grid is aging, blamed frequent outages on "more and more weather patterns that are much more violent." He said that the company has been working in the past few years to clear tree branches from lines and pledged to invest billions in infrastructure improvements.
Earlier, Trevor Lauer, the president of DTE Electric, suggested that there wasn't more progress earlier on repairs because as fast as crews could put power lines back up, the ice and winds took more down. On top of the 500,000 customers with no electricity during the storm, another 100,000 or so lost power Thursday.
Michigan power outage map:How to check your status
"As we get into the field today, we're going to continue to work on understanding just how much damage exists in the infrastructure," Lauer said. "There's areas that were hit particularly hard, especially in Washtenaw County and Livingston County. That's where we're seeing the most extensive damage, where we had the heaviest ice."
Friday, DTE said it had 4,270 utility workers making repairs, what Norcia called a "small army," and Consumers Energy, another 1,500.
What gets fixed first
DTE has prioritized repairs by safety, fixing damage that poses the most risk to people, then, by the areas where the most customers' power can be restored at one time. Schools also are high on the list, so on Monday, students can go back to class.
"There's a handful of things our crews are working their way through," Lauer said, noting repair challenges the company is facing, including irritated customers and vicious dogs. "Crews are dealing with ice in the dangerous conditions, just like the customers, whether it's driving or trying to climb a pole that's icy."
In the meantime, frustrated Michiganders and watchdog groups — such as the Energy and Policy Institute and Michigan United — are seeking accountability and raising questions about legislative utility reforms and future rate hikes.
They also worry about keeping warm, with no heat, and in some homes, damage from freezing pipes.
"Utilities like electricity are a human right," Michigan United said. "People need them to survive. They should not have to choose between heating their homes or feeding their families. Michigan residents deserve a utility company that is accountable to their communities, not shareholders’ bank accounts."
Weather forecasts
Forecasters say that both utilites may finally catch a break Saturday, as highs reach the upper 30s, with no rain or snow, and Sunday, for sure, or as sure as a weather report can be, when temperatures are expected to be in the 40s, also with no precipitation, and the sun shining.
But the weather leading up to the weekend hasn't helped.
The rare ice storm that hit Michigan on Wednesday downed trees and limbs, cut power to homes and businesses, closed schools and offices, suspended the QLINE, delayed air travel, caused car crashes, and killed a firefighter in Paw Paw.
Between a quarter-inch and more than a half-inch thick accumulated on everything, including power lines, and utility executives added that when there is that much ice on the power lines, the effective stress of 20-mph winds is as if they were gusting at 60.
Then, there was ice and wind. Thursday into early Friday morning wind gusts of 30 to 35 mph.
Late Thursday night, DTE tweeted: "Crews are in the field working 16-hour shifts and have restored power to more than 100,000 customers since the start of the storm, and acknowledge that temperatures would drop throughout the night and into the morning."
Now, there’s ice, wind, and snow — in a few places in southeast Michigan, anyway. National Weather Service forecasters said Friday to expect highs in the upper 20s, and in a few cities, wind gusts at more than 20 mph and intermittent flurries.
In other places, however, it was cold, but sunny out.
Groups seeking action
Michigan's utilities are under fire by customers who want to know why services aren't more reliable.
In the past couple of days, DTE and Consumers Energy have been holding news conferences every few hours to answer questions, saying they are trying their best to restore power as quickly and safely as possible and working with groups that can help people who need it.
During a news conference Wednesday, Consumers Energy executives said the ice storm was rare and the repairs can be complicated. In addition, despite their best efforts to strengthen power infrastructure, it wasn't able to stand up to the inclement weather.
A reporter asked: Why not just bury all the lines? The answer: It would cost too much.
Still, Michigan United, an organization formed with the merger of the Michigan Organizing Project and the Alliance for Immigrant Rights in 2012, released a statement Thursday that questioned future DTE rate hikes, and racial inequality of utility charges.
"We have to be clear about this: the rate hike would not affect all Michigan residents the same way," Michigan United said. "It would be a direct attack on the state’s Black and brown population. According to research from the State of Michigan, the median energy burden for Black households is already 43% higher than for white households, and the median energy burden for Hispanic households is 20% higher than for white households."
And another group, the Energy and Policy Institute, also released a statement to "highlight the opportunities state policymakers have passed over that would have ensured more accountability for utilities and relief for customers when major outages like this happen."
Among them, it said, bills introduced last year would have boosted "the financial relief for customers during power outages and force more accountability for utilities."
In 2021, when severe thunderstorms knocked out power tohundreds of thousands of Michigan customers, Attorney General Dana Nessel urged power companies to voluntarily credit customers affected by the outages and provide greater credits to assist those who have lost hundreds of dollars or more in food and alternative housing costs.
Earlier this month, she also urged more transparency around the money spent to influence public policy.
According to the Energy and Policy Institute, the "lack of legislative relief for utility customers is attributable to DTE’s expansive political influence machine in Michigan, where — as of last session — 138 of 148 state lawmakers had taken campaign money from DTE’s PAC, its executives, and lobbyists, or both."
Despite outrage after chronic outages, it added, legislation to support utility customers "has faced long odds."
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
Outage service credits
Customers may be eligible for a credit on their electric bill if they experience lengthy or frequent service outages. Residential customers may qualify for a $25 credit or their monthly customer charge, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission.
DTE and Consumers Energy offer electronic forms for credit that can be submitted online.
Eligibility conditions: An outage of more than 120 hours under catastrophic conditions, an event that results in an official state of emergency, or an event that results in an interruption of 10% or more of the utility’s customers. Or an outage of more than 16 hours under non-catastrophic conditions. Or eight or more outages in 12 months.
