Consumers Energy to Largely Finish Restoration in Southern Michigan Tonight

Consumers Energy lineworker.  Photo courtesy Consumers Energy.

(February 27, 2023 6:30 PM)  Consumers Energy said this evening it is working around the clock to restore customers affected by last week’s ice storm and responding to multiple new outages caused by today’s icing, mostly in mid- and northern Michigan.

Crews have restored service to about 260,000 Consumers Energy customers. Nearly all customers affected by the ice storm last week are expected to be restored by the end of today.

As of 6:30 PM, in Jackson County, 10,945 customers remain without power. (14%)

“There are more than 600 crews working directly on restoring customers’ power and we will stay in ‘storm mode’ — working extended shifts, day and night — until all our customers have their lights restored,” said Amanda Wagenschutz, one of Consumers Energy’s officers in charge for the event. “I am so impressed by the response from our customers to our hard-working employees, and on behalf of Consumers Energy sincerely thank our customers for their abundance of patience.”

While work continues in southern Michigan, Consumers Energy also is dispatching crews to other counties to the north where up to a half-inch of ice could arrive during today’s storm. Ice can create power outages by weighing down trees and the electric grid, putting as much weight as a baby grand piano on a single span of power line.

Consumers Energy customers can get updates on the continuing restoration work by signing 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. People who don’t sign up for alerts can report and check on the status of outages at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter.

Wagenschutz also encouraged people to watch for downed wires. People should always stay at least 25 feet away from a downed wire, keep children and pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050.

Consumers Energy urges the public to keep this important information in mind:

Be careful while crews continue to work 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, a free statewide service, if you are looking for help connecting to resources that offer assistance in their community, including warming centers.

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. Read more guidance on safe generator use here.

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 that holds the electric service wires to a 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.

Consumers Energy is Michigan’s largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.7 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.