Consumers Energy : Makes Progress Overnight, Restores Service to 83 Percent of Customers

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News Release

Consumers Energy Makes Progress Overnight, Restores Service to 83 Percent of Customers

Jackson, Mich. Monday, August 28, 2023

A record number of Consumers Energy crews - including crews from six states - have restored power to nearly 83% of the roughly 200,000 homes and businesses as strong progress was made overnight following the devastating Aug. 24 storm.

"Our crews worked tirelessly overnight to make significant progress restoring power and we appreciate our customers' patience as we work to clean up the mess made by high winds and three confirmed tornadoes," said Scott McIntosh, one of Consumers Energy's Officers in Charge for the storm. "Restoring power is our No. 1 job and our lineworkers will continue putting in 16-hour shifts, around-the-clock until every last community is restored."

While the important restoration work continued, Consumers Energy held customer appreciation events yesterday in communities with extensive storm damage, including Grand Rapids, Comstock Park, Manchester, Grand Ledge and Grass Lake. From free children's museum tickets to free lunches, the company cares for those without power in the communities it serves. See Consumers Energy's Facebook page for details about potential future events.

Due to severe damage from Grand Rapids through Southeast Michigan, Consumers Energy will restore power in communities hit hardest by the end of Monday. Those communities are:

• Kent County, including Plainfield, 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.

Customers can report an outage and check the status of outage by visiting 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.

McIntosh urged people to stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, keep children and pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy also asks the public to keep a safe distance from crews.

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

• 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.
• 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 [e-mail]

The next news release is scheduled for 11 a.m., Aug. 28.