DETROIT – Detroit Public Schools are switching electric power providers in an effort to improve reliability.
The school district hopes transitioning from the Detroit Public Lighting Department to DTE Energy will reduce the number of school days lost due to power outages.
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"Our teachers, principals and administration shared the extreme frustration of our parents this past year as the failure of the city of Detroit's power grid repeatedly hindered the educational process for our children who needed to be in class and learning every single day to ensure academic achievement continues to progress," said DPS Emergency Manager Jack Martin in a news release. "This transition to another power provider was long overdue. Although we know that the DPS electric service may still be at risk as a result of ‘mother nature' bringing down power lines during storms, we are hopeful that restoration will be much faster than it has been in recent years. The district is encouraged by the progress already underway by DTE to help ensure lost school days will be minimized."
DPS Chief Operating Officer Mark Schrupp said the complete transition to DTE power lines will take about 5 years but "DTE already has taken responsibility for all of PLD's former customers."
"Therefore, when we have an outage, we call the DTE service hotline and DTE is responsible for restoring power," said Schrupp.
According to DPS, the following schools were most affected by PLD power outages during this past school year:
Emerson - 12 outages
Mason - 12 outages
Edison - 10 outages
Greenfield Union - 10 outages
Bates, Dixon, Mann, Palmer Park Preparatory Academy - 8 outages each