Overview
- Severe storms that knocked down trees and power lines on Friday night caused widespread distribution-level damage that left thousands of DTE customers without electricity.
- Local reporting on Tuesday found more than 19,000 customers still dark five days after the storm while DTE says it is on track to finish restorations imminently.
- DTE says it doubled its field workforce to about 4,000 workers using mutual-assistance crews from other states and Canada and that many repairs require replacing poles, crossarms and trimming trees one site at a time.
- Michigan’s rule provides an automatic $42-per-day bill credit for outages that meet the regulatory thresholds and the credit will be applied within 90 days, but utility leaders say it may not cover household losses like spoiled food and generator fuel.
- Residents report rising out-of-pocket costs and health concerns for seniors and children, and customers should request service credits from internet or cable providers and check insurance policies for possible food-loss coverage.