Consumers Energy has introduced a Reliability Roadmap to strengthen the electric grid in Michigan and includes few long-term goals like no customer will be without power for more than 24 hours and no outage will affect more than 100,000 customers.
"Consistent with our commitment to improve service reliability, Consumers Energy has established new grid performance expectations that better reflect the reality of what Mother Nature is sending our way," Berry continued. "We are sharing these customer service commitments for the first time, reinforcing our 'Count on Us' promise to the nearly 2 million electric customers we have the privilege of serving."
The steps outlined by the company to achieve its goals are tree trimming to keep lines clear of interference from trees; infrastructure upgrades like expanding, replacing or rebuilding poles, undergrounding power lines and organizing circuits more efficiently; grid modernization to improve the ability for smart meters, sensors and automation devices to work together to help monitor, isolate and automatically respond to interruptions more effectively and lastly equity and environmental justice.
"We've identified the steps we can take to move forward, and we know the result will be an electric grid that can better withstand extreme weather and serve our customers around the clock," said Chris Laird, Consumers Energy's vice president of electric operations.
The company will file a five-year plan as part of the Reliability Roadmap with the Michigan Public Service Commission soon.
