Consumers Energy : Nearly 75 percent of Consumers Energy Customers Restored by Wednesday Morning

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News Release

Nearly 75 percent of Consumers Energy Customers Restored by Wednesday Morning

JACKSON, Mich. Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Hundreds of team members and crews will continue around the clock restoration efforts

By Wednesday morning, Consumers Energy crews have restored nearly 75 percent of customers that were impacted by Monday's damaging thunderstorms. With favorable weather conditions expected for the day on Wednesday, crews will continue their around the clock restoration efforts.

"We've made good progress in the first 36 hours of restoration, getting the lights back on for approximately 124,000 customers," said Greg Salisbury,one of Consumers Energy's Officers in Charge for the storm restoration work. "We know how frustrating power outages can be, but our customers should know that our team is committed to finishing our work as quickly and as safely as possible. We are grateful for our customers' continued patience and cooperation."

The energy provider is on track to meet theirgoal of returning power to most of the remaining impacted customers by the end of the day Wednesday. Some work will continue into Thursday in communities most badly damaged by this week's high winds.

To support customers affected by the storm, Consumers Energy is providing water and ice to people in Jackson from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, and ice cream to Battle Creek residents from 4 to 6 p.m. The public can learn more on Consumers Energy's Facebook page: Facebook.com/ConsumersEnergyMichigan.

Salisburyalso encouraged the public to continue looking out for potentially deadly downed power lines. Salisbury 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.

It's also important to stay away from anything a downed power line is touching. Consumers Energy urges the public to also keep these 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.
• Call 2-1-1 if you are looking for help connecting to resources that offer assistance in your community. 2-1-1 is a free statewide service.
• 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.

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.

Consumers Energy is Michigan's largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

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Media Contact: Josh Paciorek, 517-243-9036, Terry DeDoes, 517-243-9908

The next news release is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday.

For more information about Consumers Energy,go toConsumersEnergy.com.