Consumers Energy Crews Wrapping Up Restoration Efforts Following Windstorm

JACKSON, Mich., Dec. 13, 2021 –Consumers Energy crews have worked 16-hour shifts, around the clock, since Saturday to restore power to over 151,000 customers throughout our service territory following high winds that impacted service throughout much of Michigan’s lower peninsula.  

“Lineworkers, forestry crews, office staff and others involved in the restoration event will stay on the job until the last customer is restored, a majority of which will be by end of the day today,”  said Christine Wisniewski, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm event. “I would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding while we worked through significant damage to our system.”

Saturday’s windstorm featured 55 miles per hour gusts and impacted more than 160,000 customers across the lower peninsula. Severe weather swept through Michigan knocking out power along the lakeshore, moving across mid and southern Michigan Saturday morning. Winds have knocked down trees, limbs, broken 192 poles, and damaged over 2,500 power lines.

The company has over 450 crews, including 47 mutual assistance crews, storm trailers, and mobile command centers, throughout the central portion of our service territory. 

Consumers Energy team members are also hosting community event this evening at Pizza Sam’s in Midland from 5-7 p.m. to thank customers for their patience, cooperation and provide a hot dinner.

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. Consumers Energy asks the public to keep a safe distance from crews due to health precautions and to allow them to do their work.

• If you see a downed line, stay at least 25 feet away, keep children or pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050.
• 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.

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.