Over 21,000 Michigan households experienced power outages in 2023— the highest number in the US.
The State of Michigan performed an extraordinary examination of the two largest electric utilities—the review aimed to find the root causes of lagging reliability and slow service restoration times. Michigan Public Service Commission posted the comprehensive results of the DTE Electric Company and Consumers Energy Company audit.
Michigan power outages are due to:
Utility Management: The state’s utility companies have been criticized for not investing enough in grid maintenance and modernization.
Aging Infrastructure: The state’s power grid is older and less reliable than other regions, making it more susceptible to failures.
Severe Weather: Michigan frequently faces extreme weather events which can damage power lines and infrastructure.
Tree Interference: Trees coming into contact with power lines contribute to outages.
Among the audit's findings on DTE Electric:
- Nearly 40% of DTE Electric’s 4.8kV substation transformers were installed between 1924 and 1960, and some of its 13.2 kV transformers date to the 1960s, older than comparable utilities’ transformers. The condition of transformers, and not solely their ages, should drive transformer replacement, and periodic excessive loadings leave DTE Electric with a high substation transformer failure rate.
- About 40% of the utility’s circuit breakers and reclosers were installed between 1930 and 1960. Its legacy oil circuit breakers need more intense maintenance and lack performance compared to modern gas circuit breakers.
- DTE Electric aims to have its lines trimmed of trees every five years, but the effective cycle is currently 5-7 years. Utilities with shorter vegetation management cycles have seen significant reductions in outages.
- More than 13% of DTE Electric customers experienced four or more interruptions in 2023 and nearly 45% experienced interruptions of eight hours or more.
Among the findings on Consumers Energy:
About 62% of Consumers’ low-voltage distribution poles are classified as small-diameter classes 5, 6, and 7, which are more susceptible to breaking in storms.
- The current average effective cycle is nearly ten years because of a trimming backlog. Shortening the cycle is a significant, cost-effective way to reduce outages.
- More than 10% of Consumers’ customers experienced four or more interruptions, and more than 25% of its customers experienced interruptions of eight hours or more
- The utility’s use of catchall “weather” and “unknown” cause codes for outages is imprecise and masks what causes outages.
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