Consumers Energy: Around the Clock Work Continues

Consumers crews working on restoration in a Jackson neighborhood Friday evening. Consumers Energy photo.

(August 14, 2021 11:40 AM) Consumers Energy and mutual assistance crews from seven states continued working throughout the night and are making progress toward their goal to complete power restoration for most homes and businesses by late tonight. Almost all restoration work is expected to be completed by the end of the weekend.

Jackson County was especially hard hit by Thursday morning’s storms. In the Clark Lake area, Clark Lake Spirit reports numerous centuries-old trees were toppled, dozens of boats sustained damage or were overturned by strong winds, and lines remain down this morning.

Since last night, an additional 1,525 Jackson County customers were restored. As of 11:30 AM today, 18,594 Jackson County customers remain without power in these locations (with number of customers affected):

Brooklyn 4,749

Clarklake 1,243

Concord 1,453

Grass Lake 1,188

Hanover 1,050

Horton 1,147

Jackson 4,695

Parma 1,549

Rives Junction 164

Spring Arbor 520

Springport 23

“We are grateful to our Consumers Energy, contractor and mutual assistance crews dedicated to restoring power quickly and safely to customers who lost power during this week’s violent storm system,” said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy’s vice president for electric operations. “We also appreciate the continued patience and cooperation of our customers as we make this final push to get the lights back on for everyone.”

Family-fun activities such as zoo visits and ice cream giveaways will continue throughout the state this weekend as small gestures of appreciation for customers as crews work to restore power. The energy provider is also hosting other events to provide needed resources like ice and water to those in need. Today’s events currently include:

All events can be found at www.Facebook.com/ConsumersEnergyMichigan.

More than 550 crews will continue to work 16-hour shifts to finish restoring power to all 370,000 homes and businesses Consumers Energy serves that lost power since Tuesday night. This storm was one of the 10 most significant storms in company history.

Customers can check the progress crews are making to restore power by visiting 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.

Consumers Energy reminds everyone to stay focused on safety, and is offering these tips:

If traffic lights are out, treat them as a four way stop and use caution moving through intersections.
Be aware of possible downed wires. Report them to 9-1-1 or Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050 immediately while staying at least 25 feet away.
- If you’ve already reported a downed wire, we appreciate your patience as we work hard to safely secure the remaining incidents. More than 6,000 downed wires have been reported since Tuesday.
Be alert to crews working along roads. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.
Call 2-1-1 to connect with resources that offer assistance in your community, such as cooling centers or other needs. 2-1-1 is a free statewide service.
Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas.
Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
In some cases, the mast which holds the electric service wires to a customer’s home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to a home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.