Nearly 8,000 DTE customers without power due to winter storm
(CBS DETROIT) - Friday's weather came with snowfall, tricky road conditions, and thousands of power outages in Southeast Michigan.
As of Monday morning, 7,540 DTE customers were reported to be without power. Additionally, 181 Consumers Energy customers are affected by power outages.
With winter weather expected to continue over the weekend, DTE Energy leaders said the company was doing the best it could to get ahead of the storm and have people on standby to assist with outages and damage quickly and safely.
"If a customer does experience an outage, please know we know how disruptive and uncomfortable it is to be without power, and everyone at DTE is committed to getting your service restored as safely and quickly as possible," Bill Hutchinson, DTE director of storm emergency preparedness and response, said ahead of the storm.
"A particular concern of mine this weekend is the drop in temperature. It's going to be cold outside, so while we hope to see limited impact to our electric system, it is important to be prepared and check in on others if they need assistance," he said.
"We're also bringing in 400 additional linemen to help speed up restoration making that a total of roughly 1500 linemen in the field across our entire service territory for customers who are experiencing an outage," a DTE spokesperson said Saturday.
"The western side of Wayne County and the west side of Oakland County are the biggest areas that we've seen damage That extends somewhat into the Ann Arbor area as well."
Customers can report a power outage or downed wire to DTE immediately through the DTE app or website, or by calling or 800-477-4747.