DTE Energy: 90% of customers affected by ice storm will have power by Friday night
CANTON, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – According to the CEO of DTE Energy, 90% of power will be restored by Friday night to the more than 500,000 customers left in the dark due to this week's ice storm.
Officials said because much of the ice associated with this winter storm focused on Michigan, the state fared far worst than other parts of the Midwest.
Over in Walled Lake, down power lines sat on top of a car next to a broken utility pole in the parking lot of Greenhouse.
"This is dangerous. It's not about making money or keeping a business open. It's about people not getting killed," Jerry Millen, owner of Greenhouse of Walled Lake, said.
Millen believes the mess could have been prevented had the utility company done something about the rotting utility pole he's complained about for five years.
"I appreciate all the hard work that the DTE linemen are doing, and the linemen, I feel, get, you know, get the wrong end of the stick if you want to say they're the ones that get yelled at by the customers and all that, but at the end of the day, I feel that the DTE the heads up, they're not being held accountable," Millen said.
CBS News Detroit asked about the situation during a news conference Friday afternoon.
"There's no question that our system is aging, and we're replacing poles as quickly and wires and transformers and such stations as quickly as possible. Last year we invested a billion and a half dollars in our distribution grid," Jerry Norcia, president, and CEO of DTE Energy said.
A generator has kept the Greenhouse of Walled Lake going, but not everyone has that luxury which is why in Allen Park, Bennie Elementary is keeping it doors open 24/7 until all lights come back on.
"Everyone's welcome. You do not need to be a family with students in the district. It's open to all neighbors, surrounding areas, whoever needs a safe place," Robin Partrich, head custodian at Bennie Elementary, said.
Teachers, school board members, and other staff are volunteering to keep the warming center operational.
They have charging stations and internet access for whoever needs it.
Allen Park resident Ryan Holloway took them up on the offer.
"We had to have a lot of blankets at our house. So we did stay warm overnight. But this morning, our electronics have been kind of dying. So we came here, and we heard about this last night, so we wanted to get a little warm," Holloway said.
DTE Energy will prioritize restoring power to emergency facilities followed by areas that have the largest amount of outages.
