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Electric Delivery Service

About Power Restoration

Questions & Answers

A. First, Consumers Energy will work around the clock until service is restored, though daylight hours are needed for most activities. Safety of personnel and the public will remain our highest priority. The priorities are:

• Assessing the overall system and repairing power plants, major lines and substations that carry power from plants to communities.
• Restoring power to key services essential to community safety, health and welfare - such as hospitals, police, fire, communications and water, sanitary and transportation providers, and to those members who have notified us of a medical condition requiring the use of electricity.
• Making repairs to electrical facilities that will return service to the largest number of customers in the shortest period of time, then the next largest number and so on until power is returned to everyone.
• Keep in mind ... For the safety of our repair crews, Consumers Energy may halt efforts to restore electric service when winds reach 35 miles per hour. As soon as the storm has passed, damage assessment to the Consumers Energy system will be the first priority. This way, when repair crews begin work, essential customers and services will get attention first, followed by efforts to restore service to large groups of customers before individual homes or businesses are scheduled. Please be patient and call 1-800-696-6552 to report an outage. Consumers Energy will provide service restoration updates to local newspapers, radio and television to keep everyone informed of our progress.

A. No. Consumers Energy does not give preferential treatment. It is contrary to our storm restoration plan and company policy to single out any individual for priority electric service restoration. Work is not assigned according to when customers report their outage, where they live or the status of their account.

A. We make an initial damage assessment of our system by observation. These initial observations help us understand the repairs that may need to be made to key facilities like transmission lines, substations and main power lines before we can begin the restoration process for customers. After the initial assessment and once it's safe for our employees to begin work we dispatch patrol teams to conduct neighborhood-by-neighborhood assessments. These teams report electrical equipment damage and what repairs may be needed.

A. One of our top priorities will be to remove trees and debris that have damaged electrical equipment and are preventing service restoration. Customers should not attempt to remove or trim foliage within 10 feet of a power line. If a tree or tree limbs have fallen on a power line or pulled it down, do not attempt to get close to the line. If the line is sparking, call us at 1-800-696-6552 and report a downed line. Safety should always be your first priority when pruning. Look up. Be especially careful when working with a ladder, scaffold, pole or tree in your yard. Do not do any trimming near a power line.

A. If you have any doubts about the integrity of your home or office electrical system as a result of flooding, check with local officials or a licensed electrician.

• Do not stand in water when operating switches, plugging in or unplugging appliances or resetting breakers or replacing fuses.
• Do not attempt to reset breakers or replace fuses until all water has receded. Use caution. Some circuits above the flood level may still be energized.
• Disconnect all electrical appliances before attempting to reset breakers or replace fuses. Be sure to wear dry shoes with rubber soles and stand on something dry and non-conductive, such as a dry piece of wood or wooden furniture.
• Use a dry and non-conductive "tool" such as a wooden stick or piece of PVC pipe in one hand when resetting breakers. Place the other hand behind your back. Do not make contact with the metal breaker box and other grounded objects in the area.
• Call a licensed electrician if breakers will not reset and continue to trip. This condition might indicate a short circuit in your electrical system.
• Check for water damage in all appliances and make sure cords and other parts are dry before re-plugging them into wall sockets.
• Disconnect an appliance immediately if a breaker trips, a fuse blows, or you see smoke or smell a burning odor. Have it checked by a qualified appliance serviceperson.

A. If you see a Consumers Energy crew passing but not stopping, it may be because work at a nearby location must be performed before electric service can be restored to you and your neighbors.

A. Fuses or circuit breakers in your home could have tripped and halted power, tree limbs could have fallen on the line serving your home, fuses on the transformer that serves your home may have tripped or could be damaged, and the primary line feeding the transformer could be damaged.

A.No. Electricians are not allowed to work on Consumers Energy's lines from the pole or transformer to your house. Your electrician handles work that needs to be done from the meter to inside the house, including your circuit breakers and home wiring.

A.You could have a tripped circuit breaker, a blown fuse or a broken connector or wire at one of the service leads to your house. Sometimes damage to these leads leaves only the 120-volt outlets (or some of them) working. In this case, larger appliances that need 240-volt service such as water heaters, air conditioning and ovens may be inoperable until repairs are made. It is safe to use the outlets you have available, while you check with an electrician. If it's a problem with a service lead to your home, our crews will repair the wires when they arrive to restore service.

A. Consumers Energy's personnel will be inspecting service lines and will determine if an electrician is required to fix the damage or if we can make repairs. Piping that houses wires attached to the side of your home or business is considered part of the house wiring and can only be worked on by a licensed electrician.

A. Turn off the machinery immediately and call Consumers Energy. A technician will determine whether electric power phases were connected properly.

Q. If my lights come on, can I expect them to stay on?

A. Once service is restored, we make every effort to keep it on; however, as we repair other parts of our system, some interruptions may occur.

A. Overhead lines are exposed to high winds and flying debris. Underground facilities can be subject to flooding. Repair and replacement time is about the same for equipment with similar functions. Repairs may take longer if an underground fault needs to be located and repaired.

A.Traffic signals will be prioritized at the request of the city or county that owns or maintains them. City or county workers may need to repair or replace damaged traffic signals and streetlights they own before Consumers Energy can re-energize lines that power them.

A.Restoration will depend in part on how many cities and counties are significantly impacted. Consumers Energy has electric utility customers in 5 counties and on 1,100 miles of electric line. If large steel transmission lines are damaged it can take weeks to repair. Resetting poles are the most time-consuming restoration process.