On sixth day without power, some DTE customers say they're 'losing faith' - Detroit News

On sixth day without power, some DTE customers say they're 'losing faith'

Six days after a massive ice storm knocked out his power, Stephen Perkins of Ypsilanti was still relying on a generator Tuesday to keep his refrigerator, lights and furnace going.

But one thing the 38-year-old supply chain manager is quickly running out of: Faith in Michigan's utilities.

“At the end of the day, those aren’t designed to run for weeks straight,” Perkins, 38, said of the generator. “There’s been a lot of stress around is that going to hold up? Are we going to lose our food?”

Perkins was one of thousands not just in southeast Michigan but across the state still without power after the most widespread ice storm since 2003 last week downed more than 11,000 power lines.

More than 65,000 DTE and Consumers Energy customers were still off the grid Tuesday night after a second bout of freezing rain and ice Monday led to a second round of outages. DTE reported more than 20,000 customers without power, while Consumers reported more than 45,000 customers without electricity around 8 p.m. Tuesday.

More than 700,000 DTE customers, or 30% of its 2.3 million customers in southeast Michigan and the Thumb, were without power after the Feb. 22 storm, along with roughly 234,000 Consumers Energy customers, forcing some to stay in hotels or others, like Perkins, to fire up generators. Some customers say it's the longest they've ever been without electricity.

Consumers Energy in a news release Tuesday said 600 crews from Michigan and four other states were restoring power and pledged to have a "majority" of customers restored by the end of Wednesday.

“To deliver help for our customers through this challenging situation, we have been working with 2-1-1, United Way and local communities to make sure folks stay safe through these restoration efforts,” said Amanda Wagenschutz, one of Consumers Energy’s officers in charge, in a statement. “Be sure to check in on friends and neighbors as our team works around the clock to get the power back on for everyone impacted.”

Perkins is a hunter and worries about losing deer meat he has stored in the freezer. He’s also concerned about his 88-year-old grandfather who lives with him. They’ve dealt with the constant hum of the generator that’s been running for almost a week.

“He gets anxious about the generator running,” he said. “It isn’t exactly that great for him.”

Perkins said he’s regularly checks for updates about when his power will be restored.

More: Why Michigan struggles with energy reliability — and what's being done about it

“It would say Saturday, and Saturday came,” he said. “Then Sunday and then it said Tuesday. And now it’s Tuesday and we still don’t have power.”

Perkins said he bought his generator three or four years ago after noticing an increase in power outages. He said he’d like to see investment made in infrastructure upgrades that would provide more reliable power.

“I think a lot of people have lost faith in our utilities, so they’ve gone out and purchased these units that realistically we shouldn’t have to have,” he said. “I spent about 10 years living out West and I don’t remember having this at all. I’ve lived in Washington, Northern California, Southern California, Utah. This is something even new to me, and I grew up in this area. I don’t remember this happening growing up in the ‘90s.”