Michigan utility customers who suffer lengthy power outages will automatically receive credits of $35 daily instead of having to apply to for a one-time credit of $25 under new rules unanimously approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission Friday (U-20629).
The credits will be effective after 96 hours (four days) during “catastrophic” conditions, defined as a utility having 10% or more of its customers without power; after 48 hours during “gray sky” conditions affecting between 1% and 10% of customers, and after 16 hours during normal conditions.
The order, approved at the March 24 PSC meeting, also reduces the required times for restoring long-duration outages; reduces the amount of time first responders must guard downed wires until they’re relieved by a utility line worker; updates reliability standards to ensure Michigan’s performance indicators match industry guidelines; and establishes annual reporting requirements for rural electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities.
Also approved Friday was an order directing utilities and cooperatives to improve outage reporting and setting requirements for reporting on their cybersecurity programs (U-20630).
Spokespersons for both of Michigan’s largest utilities, CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS) and DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE), said the companies would comply with the new orders.
DTE’s Peter Ternes said the utility had been anticipating the rules and on its own had instituted a credit for customers following the first major ice storm that hit state residents in February.
CMS Energy’s Brian Wheeler said the company supported the changes. “We remain committed to strengthening our grid in order to reduce the length and number of outages,” Wheeler said.
Three major ice and snow storms that hit Michigan over several weeks in February and early March left almost 1 million customers without power, most of them in DTE and CMS territory. Some customers were without power for more than one week.
Another major wind storm hit the state on March 25, knocking out power to several thousand customers.
The new rules will not affect customers who lost power in the three previous storms.
Under the previous outage rules, a customer had to be without power for at least five days before they could apply for a one-time $25 credit. The new $35 credits will be indexed to the rate of inflation.
PSC Chair Dan Scripps said the increased credit was an improvement but acknowledged it may not wholly restore a customer for the cost of lost food, medicine or other inconveniences. (See PSC Chair Says Michigan Grid ‘Nowhere it Needs to Be’.)
Commissioner Katherine Peretick said the commissioners were grateful Michigan residents came forward at recent public hearings to describe what they had to endure. “We know we have a lot more work to do,” she said.
The PSC also announced it had created two new webpages, one dealing with distribution system reliability metrics (featuring information on state utility outages) and a website helping customers prepare for possible outages.