DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Michigan Public Service Commission has ordered a third-party audit for the state’s two largest electric utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy. They said the utilities haven’t made enough improvements in reliability and safety.
People who live in Detroit's Belmont neighborhood said their power has been unreliable, even when weather isn’t a factor.
Ingrid Rhodes said she has been dealing with power problems for most of the year, with power going out anywhere from one to two times a month.
She said it has been problematic since a power pole was replaced in her backyard. She said she was never told about its removal and she didn’t know it has been removed until she noticed a big hole in the ground and her fence knocked over.
Rhodes said she has tried to get help from DTE.
“I explained what I noticed. I couldn’t tell them when they came out. I couldn’t give them any information because I never got any information,” explained Rhodes.
As of Wednesday, the power was out again, and Rhodes said she was not getting reliable communication from DTE.
“Last night when I called them, they told me it would be fixed in maybe three or four hours. Here it is the next day and they’re telling me 3:30, possibly 3:30,” Rhodes explained.
She thought a moment before responding to a question about whether she felt she could rely on DTE.
“Who else are we going to rely on? DTE is our only resource. They have the ability to do what they want to do because they don’t have any competition,” said Rhodes.
Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, explained what events led up to the call for an audit.
“We had a tragic incident where a 14-year-old girl touched a down power line and was fatally injured. We had 5,000 downed power lines. Kids in the the metro Detroit area, a number of them, were out of school for an entire week,” said Scripps.
“Clearly, what we’ve been doing isn’t delivering the results that Michigan customers expect and deserve.”
He explained what he hopes the outcome of the audit will be.
“This is designed to identify what we don’t know. Where the gaps truly are, both in engineering and in processes, and take the steps needed so we, several years when we’re back looking at the data again, we’re not trailing a number of our peer utilities in peer states in terms of the reliability of the system.”
Consumers Energy declined an interview but issued a statement saying in part:
“Safety is our top priority at Consumers Energy, not just for our coworkers but for everyone in our state. We appreciate the MPSC’s interest in ensuring that energy providers are taking steps to protect and inform people before, during and after severe storms, and improve electric system reliability and resilience. We look forward to working with the MPSC and focusing on the well-being of the people we serve.”
DTE made the president of DTE Electric, Trevor Lauer, available for an interview.
He reacted to the announcement of the audit.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to align as utilities with our regulator, the Michigan Public Service Commission, so that we can work collaboratively on the ways to improve reliability for all the customers here in Michigan,” said Lauer.
He also responded directly to a quote from the MPSC’s announcement calling for an audit saying, “While there are important efforts underway, the reality is that we still haven’t seen improvements in reliability and safety that Michigan customers deserve.”
“Well reliability and safety are the top two things we can talk about here at DTE. So very disappointed with what happened in the public recently in the last storm. It’s heartbreaking for all of us here at DTE. Reliability has improved, and we can demonstrate reliability has improved but we know we need to do more for our customers to improve reliability,” Lauer said.
He also responded directly to Ingrid Rhodes concerns around clear communication and responsiveness.
“Our goal is to communicate really, really transparently, with all of the 2.3 million meters and homes and businesses that we serve but we know we can get better at that,” said Lauer. “But when you’re out of power, and you’re out of power for, pick the time, and you don’t know exactly when it’s going to come back on, that is very frustrating for our customers. So I empathize with Ingrid and I understand what she’s feeling.”
Ian Hiskens, professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan, reacted to the way the electric utilities framed the audit.
“They’re looking for positive spin. You know, they’re doing stuff and I guess this requirement from the public service commission publicizes or gives them an opportunity to publicize what they’re already doing,” said Hiskens.
He explained his vision for an ideal outcome from the audit.
“My hope is that the utilities are open to exploring the ideas, not feeling threatened by someone coming in, looking forward to the opportunity to explore how, what are the best ways of doing things,” Hiskens said.
He also laid out to me another way the audit *could be used.
“I think utilities are always looking for an excuse to go to the public service commission and ask for more money, right? The public service commission is kind of giving them an excuse here to say, ‘Hey, we can do better if you let us charge more,’” said Hiskens.
