Fed up with repeated outages Michigan residents have suffered for the past several years, the Michigan Public Service Commission on Wednesday outlined penalties it could issue in the future.
Nearly a half million customers lost power for up to five days in a series of storms that hit the state Aug. 24, including seven tornadoes that killed several people and flipped tractor-trailers. The outages affected customers of CMS Energy and DTE Energy, as well as Lansing’s Board of Water and Light, which said it suffered the largest number of customer blackouts in its history.
Crews from across the nation came to help restore power. The utilities flooded media with updates on success in restoring power, and in some cases also helped provide water and other necessities to customers.
In a press release issued Wednesday, PSC Chair Dan Scripps said the three commissioners shared the public’s frustration with outages over the years, especially, he said, for those customers who suffered “outages over and over again.”
The release called for comment “from stakeholders in its ongoing work to improve reliability metrics through the MPSC’s Financial Incentives and Disincentives workgroup as part of the MI Power Grid Initiative.” Public comments are due by 5 p.m. Sept. 22.
The commission wants comments especially on whether penalties should be assessed against utilities whose customers endure at least four power outages a year. This would expand the state’s current requirements that no more than 6% of a utility’s customer base endure four outages a year.
The PSC also is considering penalizing utilities if customers suffer at least seven outages in a year.
PSC figures show that 9.6% of CMS customers and 7% of DTE customers dealt with at least four outages in 2022.
Spokespeople for CMS and DTE said their companies were reviewing the proposal. “Consumers Energy shares the commission’s commitment to improving our customers’ experience and improving the reliability and resiliency of our system,” said CMS spokesperson Katie Carey. “We are working hard to achieve that goal and will provide feedback on the proposal as invited by the commission.”
DTE spokesperson Pete Ternes said the company’s “work to reduce the frequency and duration of outages is already underway. We are executing our four-point plan to transform the electric grid to build the grid of the future for Michigan that our customers expect and deserve. From trimming thousands of miles of trees, updating existing infrastructure, rebuilding significant portions of the grid and accelerating our transition to a smart grid, we are laser focused on delivering for our customers.”
