DETROIT – DTE Energy says 95% of the 220,000 people who lost power during Friday’s winter storm will have it restored by the end of the day Monday.
As of 3 p.m. Saturday (March 4), around 200,000 people remain without power.
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“I’ve heard from multiple customers who lost power, we got it back two or three days ago, and they’re out of power again,” said Trevor Lauer, the president and COO of DTE Electric. “We understand how frustrating that is, and it’s not the customer experience that we want for our customers.”
DTE officials said this round of power outages was caused by strong winds and wet, heavy snow.
Crews are assessing the damage. Many of the trees and branches that didn’t quite fall during last week’s ice storm came down due to the weight of Friday night’s snow, according to DTE. Power outages were caused by those trees and branches falling onto power lines and other equipment.
More than 2,000 downed wires have been reported, and about 3,500 field team members are working to get power restored.
DTE Energy estimates 95% of the 220,000 customers who lost power due to this storm will have it restored by the end of the day Monday.
“I understand how frustrating it can be, and (customers) have every right to be frustrated right now,” Lauer said. “But the people in the field trying to do the work are trying to get their lights back on as quickly as they can. So, I understand the frustration directed at me, directed at the company, but not at the people who are out there trying to help you.”
Click here to read more from Lauer’s Saturday morning interview.
Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s office released this statement on the ongoing outages:
“Michiganders should be able to count on their utilities to keep the lights and heat on. It is simply unacceptable for the energy companies to continue having prolonged power outages across the state. We are grateful for the line workers and first responders who have been working around the clock to get the power back on and keep Michiganders safe. The legislature plans to hold hearing to address the recent outages, and we look forward to working with them to ensure Michiganders get the answers they deserve. As that happens, it will be important to continue making critical investments toward our state’s infrastructure, including investments to enhance reliability and make Michigan’s infrastructure more resilient to climate change.”