WE HAVE BREAKING NEWS JUST INTO THE LOCAL 4 NEWSROOM. DTE IS GIVING AN UPDATE ON ITS EFFORTS
TO RESTORE POWER.
BRYAN SCHUERMAN IS STANDING BY.
LIVE WITH DTS, TREVOR LOWER.
HEY, GOOD MORNING, BRIAN. HEY
THERE PRETTY AND GRANT. GOOD
MORNING, EVERYONE AS THEY WERE
JUST SAYING WE’RE JOINING DT
HERE, DTE HERE THIS MORNING.
THEY’RE GOING TO GIVE US AN
UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF THE
POWER OUTAGES AND WHAT CREWS ARE
DOING TO RESTORE IT. SO LET’S GO
AHEAD AND BRING IN TREVOR LOWER
HERE AT DTE TREVOR. GOOD
MORNING. OBVIOUSLY NOT A GOOD
SCENARIO. TWO MAJOR WEATHER
EVENTS IN 10 DAYS TELL US WHAT’S
GOING ON WITH THE TEA THIS
MORNING. RIGHT NOW WE HAVE
APPROXIMATELY 209,000 CUSTOMERS
OUT OF POWER. AS YOU CAN SEE
BEHIND US WE HAVE ABOUT 250
TRUCKS IN THIS PULLOUT AREA
WHERE DISPATCHING THE CRUISE.
RUNNING THEY’RE GONE TO OUTAGES
THIS MORNING. WE HAVE ABOUT
130,000 OF THOSE CUSTOMERS ON WE
CALL IT CRUISE OR TRUCKS THIS
MORNING TO START THE RESTORATION
PROCESS WILL ALSO HAVE DAMAGE
ASSESSMENT TEAMS OUT IN THE
FIELD. TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE
LEVEL OF DAMAGE AND HOW WE GET
EVERYBODY BACK AS QUICKLY AS WE
CAN. FOLKS THAT MAY NOT HAVE
POWER EARLY THIS MORNING. WHAT
DO THEY NEED TO KNOW? IN TERMS
OF THE TIMELINE FOR POSSIBLE
RESTORATION? YEAH, WELL
RESTORATION TIMELINE. I WILL
GIVE AN UPDATE ON THAT THIS
AFTERNOON. WE NEED TO DO THE
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. UNDERSTAND
EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. YOU
UNDERSTAND THE HEAVY SNOW AND
THE WINDS THAT CAME IN LAST
NIGHT AS I WAS DRIVING AROUND
LATE LAST NIGHT AND EARLY THIS
MORNING. WHAT WE SEE IS A LOT OF
TREES DOWN AND WITH THE ICE
STORM THAT HAPPENED TWO WEEKS
AGO. A LOT OF THE BRANCHES THAT
DIDN’T FALL COMPLETELY ARE NOW
DOWN, SO I WOULD IMAGINE A LOT
OF THE CUSTOMERS LOST POWER
PREVIOUSLY COULD HAVE LOST IT
AGAIN. BUT WE’LL HAVE A MUCH
BETTER ASSESSMENT AT LUNCHTIME
TODAY ON THAT. YOU KNOW, I WAS
TALKING WITH SOMEONE LAST NIGHT
THAT SAID THEY GOT THEIR POWER
BACK A WEEK AGO FRIDAY. NOW THEY
WERE OUT WITH IT AGAIN. SO HOW
CAN PEOPLE REPORT OUTAGES IF
THEY HAVEN’T ALREADY, OBVIOUSLY,
SINCE THE STORM IS NOW OVER, AND
WHEN RECOVERY NOTE THE NUMBER
ONE THING I’D SAY IS USE OUR
MOBILE APP. GO TO THE WEBSITE OR
CALL OR 1 800 NUMBER TO REPORT
AN OUTAGE. WE UNDERSTAND WHO’S
OUT OF POWER BECAUSE OF OUR AM I
METERS OR AUTOMATED METERS. SO
WE UNDERSTAND WHO’S OUT. WE’RE
GOING TO DISPATCH CREWS TO IT,
AND OUR JOB IS TO GET
EVERYBODY’S POWER BACK AS
QUICKLY AS WE CAN, BUT ALSO AS
SAFELY AS WE CAN. AND I ALSO
UNDERSTAND THE FRUSTRATION I’VE
HEARD FROM MULTIPLE CUSTOMERS
THAT LOST POWER. WE GOT IT BACK
TWO OR THREE DAYS AGO AND
THEY’RE OUT OF POWER AGAIN. AND
WE UNDERSTAND HOW FRUSTRATING
THAT IS, AND IT’S NOT THE
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THAT WE WANT
FOR OUR CUSTOMERS AND TELL ME A
LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOUR CREWS
ARE DOING. YOU WERE TELLING ME
16 ON EIGHT OFF RIGHT NOW.
WHAT’S BEEN THE INITIAL RESPONSE
WITH THE CRUISE. AND WHAT ARE
YOU LOOKING FOR GOING? FORWARD
AS YOU BEGIN TO RESTORE POWER
FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT. THANK YOU,
SIR. OUR CREWS ARE JUST AMAZING.
THE MEN AND WOMEN THAT ARE DOING
THIS WORK NOW BEEN WORKING FOR
10 STRAIGHT DAYS. AND WE ASKED
THEM TO WORK 16 HOURS ON AND
THEN EIGHT HOURS OFF WHILE THEY
DO THE RESTORATION ACTIVITIES.
OUR JOB IS TO KEEP THEIR SPIRITS
UP AND MAKE SURE THEY WORK
SAFELY BECAUSE AS YOU WORK HOURS
LIKE THAT, YOU START TO GET
TIRED. WE’VE LOST SOME CREWS
THAT HAVE GONE BACK TO OTHER
STATES RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE OTHER
STATES HAVE BEEN HEAVILY
IMPACTED BY THIS WEATHER EVENT
ALSO HAS COME THROUGH TENNESSEE
, OHIO, INDIANA, SO WE WANT TO
MAKE SURE THEY STAY SAFE FIRST,
AND THEN ALSO, WE NEED TO
SUPPORT THEM WITH THE RIGHT. WE
WANT TO SEND THEM WHERE THE
OUTAGES ARE NOT WHERE THEY ARE
NOT SO WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT
CREWS ARE GOING TO WHERE THERE’S
ACTUAL OUTAGES AND THINGS THAT
THEY CAN REPAIR FOR CUSTOMERS.
WHAT CUSTOMERS CAN DO IS SUPPORT
THE PEOPLE ARE DOING IN THE
FIELD. I UNDERSTAND HOW
FRUSTRATING IT CAN BE, AND THEY
HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE
FRUSTRATED RIGHT NOW, BUT THE
PEOPLE IN THE FIELD TRYING TO DO
THE WORK ARE OUT THERE TRYING TO
GET THEIR LIGHTS BACK ON AS
QUICKLY AS THEY CAN SO
UNDERSTAND THE FRUSTRATION
DIRECTED AT ME DIRECTED AT THE
COMPANY, BUT NOT AT THE PEOPLE
THAT ARE OUT THERE TRYING TO
HELP YOU OBVIOUSLY SOME GOOD
ADVICE. NOW, ARE THERE ANY AREAS
THAT YOU’RE SEEING HEIGHTENED
AMOUNT OF POWER OUTAGES COMPARED
TO OTHERS ACROSS THE AREA. I
KNOW EARLIER WHEN I WAS LOOKING
AT SOME OF THE NUMBERS THAT
LOOKED LIKE IT WAS OAKLAND AND
WAYNE COUNTIES WERE TWO OF THE
HIGHEST IMPACTED FROM THIS. I
WILL HAVE A BETTER SENSE. I
LOOKED AT THE MAP THIS MORNING,
AND IT DOES LOOK LIKE OAKLAND
COUNTY, WAYNE COUNTY. REALLY IT
WAS A BAND JUST CUTTING TO THE
SOUTHEAST OF OUR SERVICE
TERRITORY WHERE WE SAW THE
HIGHEST WINDS LAST NIGHT, BUT
I’LL HAVE A BETTER SENSE OF ALL
THAT THIS AFTERNOON AS WE AS WE
DIG INTO THE RESTORATION, WE
HAVE A WHOLE SERIES OF DATA
ENGINEERS WILL BE POURING ALL
ALL OF THAT DATA ME LATER TODAY
AS WE CONTINUE TO WORK THROUGH
HOW WE DO OUR DISPATCH PRIORITY
AND HOW WE GET EVERYBODY BACK AS
QUICKLY AS WE CAN. ALRIGHT
TREVOR. THANKS SO MUCH FOR
JOINING US THIS MORNING. WE
APPRECIATE TREVOR LOWER HERE
WITH DTE UPDATING US OVER
200,000 CUSTOMERS IN THE DARK,
ONCE AGAIN FROM MOTHER NATURE’S
SECOND WEATHER WEATHER EVENT IN
10 DAYS OBVIOUSLY WILL CONTINUE
TO FOLLOW THIS STORY AS WE HAD
THROUGHOUT THE DAY REPORTING
LIVE FROM DTS MULTIPLE
HEADQUARTERS OVER IN SOUTHFIELD