Consumers Energy Making Progress in Restoring Power to Michiganders After Storms Roll Through State
Consumers Energy Making Progress in Restoring Power to Michiganders After Storms Roll Through State
Jackson, Mich. Thursday, August 12, 2021
Crews from Seven States to Help All-Hands-on-Deck Effort Thursday
Bolstered by crews from seven states, Consumers Energy expects to make progress Thursday in restoring power to over 300,000 Michigan homes and businesses that have been affected by two days of intense storms across the state.
“We continue to be grateful for the patience of our friends and neighbors as we work to bring the lights back on,” said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy’s vice president for electric operations. “The storms that have struck our state should finally subside today, and we are confident that over 500 crews from Michigan and across the country will help bring back power to many of our customers.”
Crews worked through the night as storms continued to move through Michigan. In addition to Consumers Energy crews and others from Michigan, lineworkers today are joining the effort from seven states, including New York, Tennessee and Missouri.
About 215,000 Consumers Energy customers were without power as of 5:30 a.m. In all, over 90,000 homes and businesses have had electric service restored.
Customers can report an outage and check the status of outage by visiting www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. Customers 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.
“This is around-the-clock work, and we won’t stop until we restore power to our fellow Michiganders,” Packard said.
Consumers Energy also shares these important safety tips:
- Those clearing storm debris are advised to be aware of possible downed wires and report them to 9-1-1 or Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050 immediately while staying at least 25 feet away.
- 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 if you are looking for help connecting to 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.
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Media Contacts: Brian Wheeler, 517-740-1545, or Josh Paciorek, 517-243-9036
The next news release is scheduled for approximately 11:30 a.m.