(WWJ) -- A week after more than one million Michigan residents were affected by power outages, one organization is calling for an investigation.
The Michigan League of Conservation Voters (MLCV) is asking for the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Legislature to conduct oversight hearings on what the group calls the failures by DTE and Consumers Energy.
MLCV says the energy companies fell short on preventing the outages, and again when attempting to reconnect customers in the aftermath.
Executives with the organization point out that, while residential rates have recently been skyrocketing, customers have actually been seeing more blackouts, longer outage times, and less reliability.
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“DTE and Consumers seem content to rake in massive, windfall profits while families and businesses across Michigan suffer without power,” said Bob Allison, deputy director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “We need a full-on, independent state investigation, and our Legislature and the Public Service Commission should get to the bottom of why Michigan’s utility companies continue to fail their customers and businesses. No family should ever be left in the dark for a week again.”
MLCV also says that Michigan’s leaders "should demand DTE and Consumers increase the $25 power outage credit for customers that lost power in recent storms, make those payments automatic without a complicated paperwork process."
Earlier this week, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called on the state’s two largest utilities to credit customers who have had to deal with extended outages caused by severe weather.
DTE said yesterday that they would issue $100 credits to customers who were still in the dark on Monday.
As of Thursday evening, a reported 1,440 DTE customers remained without power.
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