A new study finds Michigan had the nation’s second-most power outages during the winter. State officials say they’re making progress on the problem.
A new study released Friday, done by a trench drain system company called Swiftdrain, found that only Texas had more winter power outages than Michigan from 2019 through 2023.
Matt Helms, spokesman for the Michigan Public Service Commission in a statement said the agency has been deeply focused on reliability improvements in recent years.
For example, responding to growing consumer frustration over long outages, the commission in 2022 launched an unprecedented third-party audit of the state’s two biggest electric providers, DTE Electric Company and Consumers Energy Company. Together they serve 80% of Michigan residents. With those audit results the commission in June of this year outlined ways it expects the companies to improve.
They include more regularly trimming trees near power lines, since fallen limbs and branches remain the leading cause of outages. They also urged more investment in maintenance, and replacing equipment based on inspections and the actual condition of equipment instead of solely on its age.
