Consumers Energy Continues Storm Restoration Work, Hosting Customer Appreciation Events Today

Jackson, Mich. Saturday, December 18, 2021

Crews have restored power to about 75% of customers impacted by this week’s damaging windstorm

Consumers Energy crews continue working extended hours to restore power to customers impacted by severe winds that ripped through the state Wednesday and Thursday, and the energy provider is hosting community appreciation events in northern Michigan today to thank customers for their patience and cooperation.

Nearly 500 crews, including some from Canada, Ohio and Indiana, made tremendous strides and have restored electric service to more than 150,000 customers, or about 75% of those affected.

“We’re proud of our crews who have been working relentlessly restoring power,” said Christine Wisniewski, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm event. “These crews will continue working hard until the lights are turned back on for all our customers. We want to thank all our customers for their continued patience and cooperation as we complete our storm restoration work.”

More than 190,000 customers lost power in this week’s windstorms, which carried gusts up to 75 MPH and brought down 2,400 lines, knocked down trees and snapped nearly 300 poles.

Consumers Energy will host community events throughout the day in the greater Mesick, Grant, Roscommon, Houghton Lake Heights and Beulah communities:

• From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mesick High School (581 Clark St. in Mesick), enjoy one free barbecue meal per person supplied by the Smoke Show, LLC food truck.
• From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Grant Community Center (105 S. Front St. in Grant), receive a free pizza slice, cookie, coffee or water per person.
• From noon to 3 p.m. at Fred’s of Roscommon (422 N. 5^th St. in Roscommon), enjoy one free large cheese or pepperoni pizza per family.
• From 4-7 p.m. at Better Pizza (7272 W. Houghton Lake Dr. in Houghton Lake Heights), get one free large pizza per family.
• From 5-7 p.m. at A. Papano’s Pizza (7803 Crystal Dr. in Beulah), enjoy up to two pizza slices and one soda free per person.

Consumers Energy held three community events yesterday in northern Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula, in Falmouth, and in Mancelona.

For more about upcoming events, visit 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 reminds the public to exercise caution around downed wires. Guidance includes watching for downed wires while traveling, staying at least 25 feet away from downed wires, and reporting downed wire issues by first calling 9-1-1 and then calling Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy asks the public to keep a safe distance from crews given health precautions and to enable them to complete 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 – a free statewide service – if you are looking for help connecting to assistance resources in your community.
• Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement or enclosed patio, or near 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, cleanup of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
• In some cases, the mast that holds 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  cable.

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Media Contacts: Terry DeDoes, (517) 243-9908, or Katie Carey, (517) 740-1739

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