GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Consumers Energy officials announced Monday they will be working to improve their power grid's reliability and cut back on restoration times in the future.
In a press conference, senior vice president of transformation and engineering Tonya Berry said Consumers Energy has several goals in place, including having no more than 100,000 customers without power at any given time and restoring power within 24 hours of an outage. She said these are the "most aggressive" goals that the company has set for itself.
It's been dubbed the utility's "Reliability Roadmap." Long-term, plans call for an approximately $9-billion investment.
Separately, a five-year plan due to be submitted to the Michigan Public Service Commission this week, is expected to outline how the utility will take steps toward fulfilling these promises.
Vice president of electric operations Chris Laird said this includes implementing more underground systems in the areas with the least reliable energy, expanding their tree trimming efforts to keep powerlines clear and investing in more smart technology to monitor the system.
With updated technology, Laird said that outages will be able to be located immediately, allowing crews to begin the restoration process sooner.
Greg Salisbury, vice president of electric distribution engineering, said addressing these issues in advance can save significant amounts of money, and that severe weather situations can cost tens of millions.
"The key point is by analyzing the circuits, looking for the risks and then doing the work where we plan it…it’s at least 40% cheaper to do those things in advance," Salisbury said. "It’s a huge impact on affordability by doing it through the roadmap as opposed to waiting for the severe weather and fixing it when it’s broken."
In addition, Laird said Consumers Energy plans to invest $1 billion annually into rebuilding and replacing their powerlines and poles to be able to withstand nearly hurricane-strength winds.
He said 350 linemen apprentices have been hired, and nearly 100 underground workers are currently being trained.
It is unclear if energy rates will be raised to help accommodate this plan.
"We have a responsibility when we look at affordability for our customers to make sure we're efficient with the dollars that we have and continue to spend," Berry said. "So those things will be vetted out through the annual process that we go through with the commission."
The five-year-plan to be submitted this week, together with the longer-term goals contained within the 'reliability roadmap' will both require regulatory approval.
The unveiling of this plan comes after Michigan has seen significant power outages following severe weather this year, including heavy snowfall and ice storms over the winter and a slew of tornadoes last month. Thousands of Michiganders were left without power for days.
Earlier this year, Michigan was ranked among the worst states for power restoration after outages. The Michigan Public Service Commission said they are taking steps to solve this issue.
In addition, the announcement comes amid a state investigation into Consumers Energy's billing practices following an ongoing 13 ON YOUR SIDE investigation. Dozens of viewers have reached out saying their utility bills suddenly skyrocketed.
The Public Service Commission is now investigating after receiving several complaints about malfunctioning gas meters, overcharging due to extended meter reads and delays in the installation for electric and gas services or customers.
You can learn more about the plan here.
Watch the full announcement below:
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