JACKSON, MI (WHTC) – Power has been restored to over 360,000 Consumers Energy customers as of Monday, March 13, in what was one of the most devastating storms in it’s 130-year history.
The March 7-8 wind storm cut power to more than 1.1 million Michigan residents – an all-time combined record. Consumers Energy employees worked around the clock to turn power back on with more than 3,400 people were engaged in electric restoration activities across Consumers Energy’s service territory; including crews from utilities in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana.
More than 12 hours of fierce winds, some in excess of 60 mph, impacted much of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The historic storm:
- Broke more than 1,300 Consumers Energy utility poles;
- Brought down more than 9,000 electric lines; and
- Knocked out electric service to over 360,000 customers – about 20 percent of its 1.8 million customers.
Last week’s storm ranks in the top 15 worst in terms of customer outages for Consumers Energy. The largest outage in Consumers Energy’s history occurred during a lightning and wind storm when 641,000 customers lost power in late May and early June of 1998. Rounding out the energy provider’s top three biggest outage events are a June 1992 lightning and high wind storm that affected 611,000 customers, and a July 1991 wind storm that affected 504,000 customers.
Consumers Energy customers who went without electric service for more than 120 hours during this storm may qualify for a credit. To learn more, customers can go online at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/outagecenter.
