A week without power, some DTE customers say they're 'losing faith'

Six days after a massive ice storm knocked out his power, Stephen Perkins of Ypsilanti was still relying on a generator Tuesday to keep his refrigerator, lights and furnace going.

But one thing the 38-year-old supply chain manager is quickly running out of: Faith in Michigan's utilities.

“At the end of the day, those aren’t designed to run for weeks straight,” Perkins, 38, said of the generator. “There’s been a lot of stress around is that going to hold up? Are we going to lose our food?”

Perkins was one of thousands not just in southeast Michigan but across the state still without power after the most widespread ice storm since 2003 last week downed more than 11,000 power lines.

More than 44,500 DTE Energy and Consumers Energy customers remained in the dark late Wednesday morning. The number is down from about 56,000 who were off the grid Tuesday night following a second bout of freezing rain and ice Monday led to more outages.

DTE Energy said it has 16,000 customers without power as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, about the same as it had at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Consumers Energy, meanwhile, said it had 27,600 customers without electricity as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, down from more than 40,000 at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Consumers Energy reported Tuesday it had restored nearly 90% of 385,000 Michigan homes and businesses that lost power due to the two powerful storms. Some 600 crews, including some from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia, had restored power to 340,000 homes and businesses, it said in a statement. More than 2,000 lineworkers were continuing their effort overnight, aiming o return power to nearly all customers Wednesday, according to the release.

Consumers officials said Wednesday morning they're aiming to get the lights turned on for almost all of its customers by the end of the day.

"We are ready to get the job done," Jeff Shingler, vice president of operations support for Consumers Energy, said in a statement. "The last week has brought a historic ice storm and another round of bad weather on its heels. We have restored 92% of 385,000 customers who lost power at some point, but know we must take care of those who have waited so patiently for us to finish."

Shingler also apologized to customers who are still without electricity.

"We understand that many people are frustrated to wait days for power to return," he said. "We know this is a hardship that affects people’s comfort and well-being, and we are sorry."

More than 700,000 DTE customers, or 30% of its 2.3 million customers in southeast Michigan and the Thumb, were without power after the Feb. 22 storm, along with roughly 234,000 Consumers Energy customers, forcing some to stay in hotels or others, like Perkins, to fire up generators. Some customers say it's the longest they've ever been without electricity.

Perkins is a hunter and worries about losing deer meat he has stored in the freezer. He’s also concerned about his 88-year-old grandfather who lives with him. They’ve dealt with the constant hum of the generator that’s been running for almost a week.

“He gets anxious about the generator running,” he said. “It isn’t exactly that great for him.”

Perkins said he regularly checks for updates about when his power will be restored.

More:Why Michigan struggles with energy reliability — and what's being done about it

“It would say Saturday, and Saturday came,” he said. “Then Sunday and then it said Tuesday. And now it’s Tuesday and we still don’t have power.”

Perkins said he bought his generator three or four years ago after noticing an increase in power outages. He said he’d like to see investment made in infrastructure upgrades that would provide more reliable power.

“I think a lot of people have lost faith in our utilities, so they’ve gone out and purchased these units that realistically we shouldn’t have to have,” he said. “I spent about 10 years living out West and I don’t remember having this at all. I’ve lived in Washington, Northern California, Southern California, Utah. This is something even new to me, and I grew up in this area. I don’t remember this happening growing up in the 90s.”