Consumers Energy is being proactive during severe storm season. FOX 17 first showed you a few weeks ago the extensive work they do to find potential problems.
Now we're learning more about what they're doing to fix them. Consumers is investing $100 million to improve its infrastructure.
"We use the helicopter to inspect about 4,400 miles. And then with additional days, additional resources, we'll look at other problem areas, revisit those areas using that helicopter," West Michigan Consumers Energy Spokesperson Josh Paciorek said.
He says many problems crews have caught so far are leaning poles or broken equipment.
"What we're doing with this $100 million investment in our overall Electric Reliability plan is building a more reliable and more resilient power grid in the face of this more severe weather," he told FOX 17.
Michigan is no stranger to severe storms during this time of the year. Paciorek says it has been windy this year.
"We've already noticed a significant number of wind events in 2022 compared to 2021. And really what we're seeing is as the weather is getting more severe over the past few years, it's causing more havoc, causing more problems on our power grid," he added.
He says this investment is going to address Consumers Energy's high voltage distribution system.
"We're rebuilding several (hundred) miles of HVD lines. We're replacing about 750 HVD poles. We're upgrading technology. We're rehabbing other parts of the line," he said.
This investment is part of a bigger one. Paciorek says Consumers Energy plans to spend $5.4 billion on its Electric Reliability Plan.
"It's going to be really focused on making improvements across the entire power grid. It's going to be focused on tree trimming as that was the number one cause of power outages in Michigan. It's going to be investing in new technology that helps eliminate power outages or isolate power outages," Paciorek added.
Time without power is incredibly frustrating. Consumers Energy says they plan to reduce that time for your lights to be back on by 15% from now to 2025.
