Power outage reported for 1,500 DTE customers in Ann Arbor area
- Related story: Icy conditions prompt school closings across Washtenaw County
- Related story: Multiple accidents reported on icy roadways Monday morning
2 p.m. update: Power had been restored for most customers in Washteanw County, except for a pocket in Scio Township, affecting about 260 customers.
Power was out for about 1,500 customers of DTE Energy in Washtenaw County, the utility said Monday morning.
Spokesman John Austerberry said the outages, concentrated in an area southeast of Saline and northeast of Ann Arbor, were likely weather related. Most customers should have power back by early afternoon, he said, and some before that.
By 9 a.m., the power had already been off for about four or five hours in the hardest-hit areas, accorded to the DTE Outage Map.
DTE reported about 12,000 customers were without power in its service area in southeast Michigan. About half of those were in the Waterford area, Austerberry said.
DTE provides updated power outage information on its Outage Map.
The mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain that fell across Washtenaw County Sunday night and Monday morning also closed schools and caused multiple crashes on area roads and freeways.
Power outages are shown in yellow, green and purple on the map.
Comments
moveover2012
Tue, Jan 29, 2013 : 8:20 p.m.
HE fix my TV program tooo .I am down to 2 channels.FOX 2 and CBC winsor>Where is the rest?
ruminator
Tue, Jan 29, 2013 : 1:07 p.m.
Let's review. DTE has the money for TV /radio / print advertising, installation of smart meters, CEO salaries, solar arrays for universities and Lansing lobbyists. Investment in reliable transmission of a commodity of which they have a monopoly, not so much. Look in your own neighborhood. You'll probably find leaning or dry rotted poles, loose cross arms, rusty transformers and poor rights of way mmgt of trees and vegetation. The government agency tasked with representing us in the matters of energy production and distribution is the Public Service Commission. At the end of the day, DTE works to keep them happy. We just get to pay the bills. MPSC should get most of the blame for the poor and expensive utility that DTE has become. From the MPSC website: electricity The Michigan Public Service Commission is responsible for electric and steam utility regulation in the State, including regulatory responsibility over 8 privately owned electric utilities (investor-owned), 9 rural electric distribution cooperatives (coops), and 1 privately owned steam utility. Municipally owned electric (munis) or water utilities are not subject to MPSC regulation.
kittybkahn
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 8:37 p.m.
Several years ago I noticed our lights flickered when the air conditioner was on. I called DTE and they were very responsive and sent someone out a day or so later. He walked around my immediate neighborhood with me and noticed that there were far too few transformers (or whatever you call those boxes on the wires) for the number of houses on the street. He arranged to have additional ones installed. We have had absolutely no problems since then. Sometimes it takes a call before outages happen to get things done.
the leprachaun
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 7:28 p.m.
The one in Saline was caused by an exploding transformer. I know as it happened right outside my front door!
jns131
Tue, Jan 29, 2013 : 3:27 p.m.
I know it was not funny then, but thinking about it now? It is. Thanks for the giggles.
tdw
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 9:53 p.m.
I bet that got your attention.I was down south years ago and a bird blew one up.Sounded like a grenade going off.Killed the power to the entire neighborhood
justcurious
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 7:07 p.m.
Many of the outages are cause by tree branches falling on the wires. A large willow branch broke off of a neighbor's tree a few years ago and pulled the pole down behind our property. If the DYTE contractors want to trim your trees, don't put up a fuss and do us all a favor. And no, they can't just bury all of the lines. I'm sure people would gripe about that as well.
tdw
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 6:57 p.m.
I'm not sure why but it seems that power goes quite easily west of Golfside.Years ago I worked at Domino's on Washtenaw next to Kroger's and all it seemed to take to knock it out was a strong breeze.I live just east of Golfside off Packard and I haven't lost power for years.
Cindy Heflin
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 7:52 p.m.
Interesting, tdw. When I lived in Novi several years ago, it seemed the power went out a lot. It could be 75 degrees and sunny and the power would go out for no apparent reason. Since moving to this area, I've had few power outages. Could be equipment advances, perhaps, or better tree-trimming.
Kafkaland
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 6:40 p.m.
Can we please make the necessary investments in our electrical grid to reduce these outages to a level typical for developed countries with similar climate, like Germany, the Netherlands, and so on? There, the power hrdly ever goes out - maybe once every three years or so. The current state is embarassing, in particular if we want to attract more high-tech business.
moveover2012
Tue, Jan 29, 2013 : 8:21 p.m.
YES it is CHEAPER to put them underground ..they have a browwnout evrytime the wind blows etc et c.
Bertha Venation
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 : 4:23 p.m.
Feeling powerless? Wait until you get the new DTE meters that automatically notify them of outages...
jns131
Tue, Jan 29, 2013 : 3:26 p.m.
Our electric bill went up after they installed these new meters. Our gas went down but still, not happy about the electric bill. These new meters suck. Glad we go north in the summer. They won't get much out of us then.