LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — With ice storms knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is asking power companies to step up with outage credits.
At one point, 690,000 electric customers were without power, and as of Monday, there were still thousands who’s outage status hadn’t changed.
As of Monday afternoon, Consumers Energy reported over 50,000 without power, mostly south of Jackson. At the same time, DTE reported over 65,000 customers without power.
“While this ice storm appears to have been one of the worst we have seen in many years, winter weather is an expected occurrence in Michigan. Residents deserve a grid they can rely on,” said Nessel.
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) determined that company customers should trust that their electricity supplier is prepared for extreme weather and that the power grid can withstand extreme weather.
“Our current service quality standards are not sufficient, and it is incumbent on the utilities to right this wrong,” continued Nessel.
In October 2022, the MPSC ordered an independent review of the systems operated by both Consumers Energy and DTE. Nessel has asked that the MPSC publicly share the results of its independent audit as soon as possible.
