Consumers Energy Restores Nearly 70 Percent of Customers by Monday Morning

Jackson, Mich. Monday, November 07, 2022

Energy provider working to have majority of customers who remain out restored before voting begins Tuesday

Click here to download b-roll video from November 6 of Consumers Energy crews working on restoration efforts near Lake Odessa

By Monday morning, Consumers Energy crews have restored nearly 70 percent of customers who were impacted by this weekend’s damaging winds. With favorable weather conditions expected for the day on Monday, crews will continue their around the clock restoration efforts.

“We’ve made good progress overnight and have turned the lights back on for approximately 93,000 customers that were impacted by this weekend’s severe weather,” said Scott McIntosh, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm event. “We know how frustrating power outages can be, but our customers should know that our team is committed to finishing our work as quickly and as safely as possible. We are grateful for our customers’ continued patience and cooperation.”

A total of about 140,000 customers were affected by the damaging weather that featured wind gusts over 65 mph and took down nearly 2,000 wires.

With midterm elections taking place tomorrow, Consumers Energy is working to ensure residents in its service territory, whose polling precincts have been impacted by the extreme weather, have the chance to vote in person. The energy provider worked with the Secretary of State’s office and local clerks to identify polling locations in its service territory affected by the storm. Those locations are being prioritized with the goal of restoring each voting location by 6 p.m. Monday.

Customers can report an outage and check the status of outage by visiting www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. They 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.

McIntosh urged people to keep safety a top priority and stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, keep children and/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.

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 that holds the electric service wires to a 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.

Consumers Energy is Michigan’s largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

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The next news release is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday.

Media should call 1-800-557-4625 to reach a Consumers Energy Media Relations representative 24/7.

For more information about Consumers Energy, go to ConsumersEnergy.com.