Southeast Michigan has the power, finally. Overnight Friday to Saturday, most people who had been part of the biggest blackout Michigan ever experienced were out of the dark.

Power was trickling in to southeast Michigan at almost 100 percent Saturday after 2.1 million people were without electricity, Local 4 reported.

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Anthony Earley, chairman and chief executive of DTE, urged customers to conserve energy despite the fact that the majority of residents now have power.

"Just after 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning, we were able to get sufficient power to all 2.1 million customers," Earley said. "We're extremely pleased to have the power, but we continue to emphasize that we have stress to the system."

Earley requested that residents conserve their electricity use mostly between noon and 8 p.m. when the power load will be at its greatest, but he said they should begin keeping energy use at a minimum immediately.

"Turn off air conditioners if you're going out to the Woodward Dream Cruise. Turn everything off before you leave the house," Earley suggested.

Meanwhile, a limited number of residents are still without power. DTE has advised that those without power should to contact a hotline and let the company know if they are still without electricity. The number is (800) 477-4747.

Some areas are also experiencing a shortage of water, which could continue until the pumping stations get back to full capacity. A boil advisory is in effect.

Officials are advising residents to boil any water they may be using as drinking water.

At 4:14 p.m. EDT Thursday, the outage went across the northeastern United States, leaving most of New York state without power, including New York City, and parts of New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Ottawa and Michigan.

Earley said the extent of the blackout in southeastern Michigan was 100 percent with 2.1 million DTE customers affected.

Officials don't know why certain areas such as Brighton never lost power and they did not want to speculate, Local 4 reported.

The blackout apparently was due to natural causes and there was no sign of terrorism, officials in New York and Washington said.

Crews looking for the cause of the outage say they're focusing on a massive electrical grid -- known as the Lake Erie Loop -- that encircles Lake Erie. It moves power from New York to the Detroit area and into Canada -- and then back to New York state.

Officials say in the past, there have been some problems with the transmission loop.

Power restoration was a slow, step-by-step process, Earley said.

"As we start to bring the system up, we don't want to overload the system. It will be a very deliberate process. We are urging customers to shut off their electrical equipment and turn off the air conditioning," Earley said.

Earley emphasized that if there appears to be stress on the system, customers could experience rolling blackouts.

"We watch the load on the system and the capacity that is available. We watch this on an hourly basis and then make a decision about rolling blackouts," Earley said.

They will selectively cut energy to certain areas, if necessary.

"We are now urging customers to keep uncessary equipment off until our system gets back to normal after the weekend," Earley said.

Granholm Declares State of Emergency

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has declared a state of emergency for Michigan, meaning the National Guard can be deployed into areas that need help.

Traffic was moving on local freeways, but some traffic lights remained out on streets and drivers were being advised to treat lights as a four-way stop.

Flights at Detroit Metropolitan Airport were getting back on schedule, according to reports.

Stay tuned to Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit.com for more Blackout 2003 coverage.