Consumers Energy in Storm Restoration Homestretch, Has Restored Power to More Than 90 Percent of Impacted Customers

Jackson, Mich. Saturday, December 18, 2021

Restoration efforts to continue through the night and aim to be finished tomorrow

Consumers Energy crews continue working extended hours and have restored power to 180,000 customers – or about 90 percent of those impacted – after severe winds ripped through the state Wednesday and Thursday.

Nearly 500 crews, including some from Canada, Ohio and Indiana, have helped restore power throughout the weekend. Crews will aim to finish the remaining work through the night as storm restoration enters the homestretch.   

The energy provider hosted several customer appreciation events in northern Michigan on Friday and Saturday. The events were held in communities hit hardest by this week’s storms to thank customers for their patience and cooperation. 

“We’d like to thank our customers for their patience, understanding and cooperation as crews continue working to turn the lights back on for customers and communities across the state,” said Guy Packard, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm event. “We are in the homestretch of restoration work, and we’re proud of our crews for their relentless progress and hard work despite the snow and rain that fell overnight and today. Work will continue around the clock tonight, and we won’t stop until the job is done.”

More than 198,000 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.

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.

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

This is the final news release scheduled for this storm.