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BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Frustration and anger are mounting among some Michigan utility customers who still were waiting for power to be restored after a massive ice storm this week damaged electricity lines, and the governor called Friday for more accountability on repair efforts by the state's two largest utilities.
More than 600,000 customers of Detroit-based DTE Energy lost power when the storm plowed Wednesday into southeastern Michigan, while Jackson-based Consumers Energy said about 237,000 of its customers lost electricity.
“Something went boom outside the house and the lights flickered and went out” on Wednesday, said Debbie Fisher of Detroit. “I said, ‘Here we go again.’ It happens every two or three years.”
On Friday afternoon, Fisher and her 47-year-old son finally checked into a warming center on Detroit’s eastside. “I’m taking it as a lesson learned. Life is like that and you have to roll with the punches,” Fisher said.
DTE Energy said more than half of its customers who lost power should have it back by Friday night. The utility has about 2.3 million electricity customers in southeastern Michigan.
Temperatures in the Detroit area were expected to drop into the high teens Friday night and early Saturday morning.
“We’ve not had an ice storm in the last 50 years that has impacted our infrastructure like this,” said Trevor Lauer, president of DTE Electric. A December 2013 storm knocked out power to nearly 600,000 homes and businesses in Michigan.
DTE Energy Chair and Chief Executive Jerry Norcia said the utility has spent billions of dollars working to prepare the power grid for severe weather events, including trimming 5,000 to 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers) of trees each year to prevent branches from falling onto power lines.
“Over the last five years, we’ve invested approximately $7 billion into our grid,” he said. “And over the next five years, we plan to put $9 billion of investment into our grid.”
“So, we have a lot in front of us to prepare for the future as these weather patterns continue to become more intense and more violent and create damage to our equipment,” Norcia said.
Service to about 90,000 Consumers Energy customers had been restored by late Friday, according to the utility. Consumers Energy supplies electricity to 1.8 million homes and businesses, largely outside of metropolitan Detroit.
“It is certainly frustrating when there are an increasing number of extreme events that drive significant outages,” spokesman Brian Wheeler told The Associated Press in an email. He said the utility is carrying out a five-year, $5.4 billion plan to build a stronger, smarter power grid that reduces the number and length of outages.