Utlity crews continue the hard work of restoring power to the tens of thousands impacted by the winter storm. The latest numbers show major progress with reconnecting homes and businesses.
Consumers Energy:
As of 6pm Wednesday, about 2,200 Consumers Energy electric customers are without service due to the winter storm that began on Friday afternoon. Since that time, more than 183,000 customers have been affected by weather related outages.
The approximate numbers of Consumers Energy electric customers remaining without service in the following counties are as follows: Benzie (760); Grand Traverse (60); Leelanau (950); Manistee (260); and Mason (80).
All customers who remain without electric service are encouraged to call the utility at 1-800-477-5050.
The storm restoration effort has involved about 2,500 utility and contract employees, including crews from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Restoration efforts are nearing completion for Consumers Energy customers in northern Michigan and are expected to be concluded by approximately 4 p.m. today.
Cherryland Electric:
As of Wednesday morning Cherryland Electric reports 533 outages affecting 5,400 customers.
Utility crews say it is very slow going with the deep snow and the amount of trees down. Crews are working on lines that restore the largest amount of members at a time.
Great Lakes Energy:
An estimated 2,700 Great Lakes Energy members remain without power late this morning after massive power line damage due to the storm that brought wet, heavy snow. Power has already been restored to an estimated 55,730 members since the storm hit Friday night.
Most of the remaining outages are in parts of Antrim (1,104 out), Charlevoix (304), Crawford (971), Kalkaska (722), Lake (480), Oscoda (290) and Otsego (187) counties.
Eight extra crews are on the job today which brings the total to 50 line and tree-trimming crews that are assisting all available Great Lakes Energy line crews in restoration efforts. The 50 crews include teams from other utilities in the state and private contractors.
GLE officials are hopeful that the majority of remaining members will be back on by late tonight.
Presque Isle Electric & Gas:
PIE&G's latest estimates show approximately 18,290 outages were reported from Friday night until this noon Tuesday after record snowfall in northern Michigan. The storm has affected more than half of PIE&G's total electric services.
PIE&G has restored all but 2,000 services. At least 5 broken poles were located and crews expect to find more as work continues.
Additional outside crews and contractors have been working together with PIE&G employees as they continue their repairs. Progress has been hindered by deep snow and tree removals. Warmer temperatures helped working conditions but as snow melts off trees, branches are released and contact lines, causing additional outages.
With the extensive damage to the region, remaining outages could extend into Thursday, some possibly Friday.
If power is restored but later goes back out again, please contact PIE&G immediately at (800) 423-6634 to report the repeated outage so we can locate the subsequent problem on the circuit.
