The most recent episode of Bloomfield In Focus featured a conversation between Bloomfield Township Supervisor Dani Walsh and DTE Energy Vice Chairman and Group President Trevor F. Lauer. With storms and record heat already having an affect on residential power, Mr. Lauer presented an overview of the work that goes into providing reliable service, as well as insight into ongoing plans to make improvements.
Per Mr. Lauer, the most common cause of damage that leads to power outages is due to straight-line winds, especially in heavily-treed areas. He added, “during these storms, the number one thing we focus on at DTE is public safety.” DTE’s strategy focuses on calls that report downed wires. The next focus is on critical infrastructure, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Finally, work crews get their service requests prioritized based on the number of residents affected, from large numbers to smaller ones.
Additionally, he spoke about the misconception tied to areas of service in relation to the location of residents’ homes. “Our system was built mostly before homes were built around our system, so the way neighborhoods are designed don’t necessarily match the way our system is designed,” said Mr. Lauer.
Supervisor Walsh highlighted the specific needs of Bloomfield Township, having a population with 40% of residents aged 65 and higher. With regards to outages she stated, “Even someone with lower vision being in a dark home, no matter how well you know that home, it can be a scary situation.”
Mr. Lauer expressed the commitment of DTE to invest in the system, to lessen all outages. This plan includes a move towards more automation and a system with more backup capabilities that can re-route power when needed. The current average outage is 109 minutes, which is even more impactful to the growing number of residents that work from home.
In conclusion, Supervisor Walsh expressed thanks to the dedicated workers of DTE and local arborists. She stated, “they’re usually working in the worst conditions possible, hail, rain, wind and they deserve our respect.”
DTE also provided the following resources for information about the grid, safety tips and future projects:
https://empoweringmichigan.com/key-causes-of-power-outages/
https://empoweringmichigan.com/how-dte-prepares-for-extreme-heat/
https://empoweringmichigan.com/weathering-the-storm-learn-how-dte-prepares-for-extreme-weather-and-restoring-power-outages/
https://empoweringmichigan.com/what-happens-during-storm-assessment/
https://empoweringmichigan.com/why-did-my-restoration-time-change/
https://dte.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5d9dc2eb124445618959ce788086e00e
https://empoweringmichigan.com/the-dte-plan-to-improve-reliability-for-our-electric-customers/