Consumers Energy : Prioritizes Restoring Schools in Critical Restoration Day

Jackson, Mich. Sunday, August 27, 2023

Joined by a record number of crews from six states, Consumers Energy continues to push around-the-clock to restore power to most customers affected by Thursday's powerful storm by the end of today.

As of 3 p.m., Consumers Energy had restored power to more than 70 percent of the roughly 200,000 homes and businesses that suffered outages caused by the severe weather.

Crews are making every effort to restore schools' power today. The company will contact schools unable to be restored today because of particularly severe storm impacts.

Electric lineworkers are working 16-hour shifts to help communities recover from damage caused by three confirmed tornadoes and high winds reaching 90 miles per hour.

Due to severe damage, Consumers Energy will restore power in communities hit hardest by Thursday's storm by the end of Monday. Those communities are:

• Kent County, including Plainfield, Walker, Rockford, Lowell and surrounding areas.
• Ionia County, including Saranac, Clarksville and surrounding areas.
• Ingham County, including Stockbridge and the surrounding area.
• Eaton County, including Grand Ledge, Dimondale, Potterville and surrounding areas.
• Jackson County, including Jackson, Napoleon, Brooklyn and surrounding areas.
• Livingston County, including Cohoctah Township, Deerfield Township and surrounding areas.

"Today is a critical day in our restoration process as we work to safely restore power to the state's schools ahead of the new school week," said Greg Salisbury, one of Consumers Energy's Officers in Charge of restoration. "Because of severe damage, we regret that some of our hardest-hit communities will see power restored Monday, but we're working to ensure most customers will finish the weekend with power. I thank our customers and communities for their patience as we continue working around the clock."

Customers can continue to check the status of outages at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. They can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text 'REG' to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.

Salisbury continued to urge people to be alert to crews working along roads. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.

Consumers Energy urges the public to keep important safety tips in mind:

• Stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, and to report unguarded downed lines by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050.
• Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas. Read more guidance on safe generator use here.
• Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
• In some cases, the mast that holds the electric service wires to a home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to a home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.

Consumers Energy is Michigan's largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.7 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

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Media Contact: Katie Carey, 517-740-1739 or Katelyn.Carey@cmsenergy.com

The next news release is scheduled for 9 p.m., tonight.