(WWJ) -- DTE Energy has begun giving some customers credits on their energy bills after a long summer of storms in Michigan left many residents in the dark for extended periods of time on several occasions.
One DTE customer sent a letter to WWJ that they received from DTE this week, notifying them they would receive a $25 credit on an upcoming bill due to the extended outage caused by the Aug. 11 storm that hammered metro Detroit.
In the letter, DTE says “the extended time it took us to restore your power was unacceptable and not up to the standards of service DTE strives to provide all customers.”
"The credit, for outages lasting more than 120 hours during a major storm, is part of an established process established by the Michigan Public Service Commission,” the utility said in the letter. "Due to the severity of the August 11 storm, we have decided to proactively issue this credit to you rather than follow the standard application process.”
The credit will appear on the second page of customers’ bills, labeled “Reliability Credit,” according to the utility’s letter.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel had called on DTE and Consumers Energy to grant customers credits last month after more residents experienced prolonged outages.
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It was not clear how many customers will be receiving the $25 credit, or whether larger credits will be given to those who experienced outages lasting longer than 120 hours.
DTE also noted it is “committing to do better by strengthening our system and trimming trees to reduce the frequency and length of outages.”
DTE officials say trees are responsible for almost all of the time customers are without power during high wind events, and in areas where tree trimming has already been completed, there have been about 60% fewer outages.
That’s why the utility plans to invest an additional $70 million into tree trimming efforts on top of the $190 million DTE already spends on tree trimming annually. The new investment will not impact customers’ utility bills, DTE said.
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