Consumers Energy Crews Continue Strong Momentum Restoring Customers Today

Jackson, Mich. Friday, December 17, 2021

Consumers Energy crews have restored more than 114,000 customers since severe winds battered Michigan Wednesday night and Thursday.

Nearly 500 crews, including some from Canada, Ohio and Indiana, joined to help restore power to customers in the aftermath of a windstorm that packed gusts up to 75 miles per hour and knocked down trees, limbs and more than 2,400 power lines, and snapped 170 poles.

“We have made tremendous progress today and we’re planning on favorable weather conditions and for the momentum to continue into tonight,” said Christine Wisniewski, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm event. “We appreciate the continued patience of our customers. We are committed to safely working round the clock so every one of our customers is fully restored as soon as possible.”

Severe winds hit west and northwest lower Michigan late Wednesday night and continued through Thursday evening. In total, more than 194,000 customers lost power due to the windstorm.

To thank customers in especially hard-hit areas for their patience, Consumers Energy held two community events earlier in northern Michigan today on the Leelanau Peninsula and in Falmouth, providing free baked goods and hot beverages. Additional details for upcoming events can be found at Facebook.com/ConsumersEnergyMichigan

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

Wisniewski urged people to pay close attention while traveling for possible downed wires, and to stay at least 25 feet away from them, keep children or pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy asks the public to keep a safe distance from crews due to health precautions and to allow them to do their work.

Consumers Energy also asks the public to keep important safety tips in mind:

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. 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. 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 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: Terry DeDoes, (517) 243-9908, or Josh Paciorek, 517-243-9036

The next news release is scheduled for 9 p.m.. Friday, Dec.17.