DTE continues its work to restore power to the rest of 2,500 citizens affected by power shortage.
On March 8th, 2017, nature went against one of the most populous urban areas in the United States. Historic winds of great strength knocked out power in Metro Detroit, Michigan. As a result, around 1 million citizens remained without electricity for at least five days. After a week from the unfortunate event, DTE is ready to restore power to the remaining 1% of the affected energy customers.
Bad Weather Conditions Impaired Efforts to Restore Power
At 9 p.m. on Tuesday, DTE managed to connect households again to its electric service. However, the plan didn’t suffice for 2,500 of the affected clients. They continue to live in darkness and cold despite DTE efforts. The electric utility stated that it was nature again the one responsible for the delay. The mobilization for repairs was impaired by snow and roads covered in ice. Moreover, the difficulty level of the repairs ended up being bigger than expected.
According to DTE, the wind storm affected some areas more than the others. This is why these regions need more work than the rest of the metropolitan city. Moreover, some affected clients were located in regions that are harder for the company to reach. All these factors contributed to the slow pace of the repairs. Some residents were not satisfied with the rendered services. However, others resorted to social media platforms to express their appreciation for the mobilization of the company in winter conditions.
On Tuesday, DTE Energy made a public statement according to which the group of 250,000 people out of their total of 2.1 million customers in Southeastern Michigan became their number one priority these days. The authorities are going to spare no effort to take care of the households that were deprived of power since last Wednesday.
Some People Blame DTE for Lack of Preventive Measures
DTE Energy is also in need of workforce. The company currently has 3,000 crews on the field. However, other nearby utilities are supporting the efforts to restore power by assisting with their additional number of employees. This way, the dispersed affected locations are covered more effectively, and the company has extra resources to deal with the complex endeavors.
Utility officials and Governor Rick Snyder blamed the powerful winds that reached even 70 mile-per-hour for the biggest electric outage in the history of the state. However, some people see this event as the lack of preventive strategies on behalf of the electric utilities. Metro Detroit is well known for its weather issues. Moreover, DTE has already turned down several proposals to move the urban system underground. In the recent period of time, the company focused more on cost-cutting strategies instead of improving the electrical infrastructure.
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