Update: DTE acknowledges new outage map can be inaccurate, cause confusion
ANN ARBOR, MI — DTE Energy has faced a fair amount of criticism for recent extended power outages impacting hundreds of thousands of people, and that includes many complaints in Ann Arbor about DTE’s new outage map.
It’s flawed, inaccurate and caused confusion following the Feb. 22 ice storm that left many residents without power for days, said City Council Member Jen Eyer, D-4th Ward.
“We expect better from DTE when it comes to a winter storm where people are freezing in their homes,” she said.
She and City Administrator Milton Dohoney are now setting up a meeting with DTE officials to talk through the concerns.
There have been widespread problems with DTE’s new map showing incorrect outage statuses, Eyer said, noting she received reports from a number of residents about DTE marking their blocks or neighborhoods as having power restored when it wasn’t and residents had to re-report outages.
DTE’s automated text and email alerts to customers in many cases also conflicted with outage statuses at people’s homes or with what the map showed, Eyer said.
“The level of confusion in the community based on DTE’s communication was just off the charts,” she said, noting many were left unsure when they’d have power restored.
While DTE announced it will send $35 credits to customers who went without power for 96 hours, it’s still unclear to some if they will qualify in cases where DTE marked power as restored earlier than it really was, Eyer said.
DTE did not respond to a request for comment from MLive/The Ann Arbor News, though on its website it describes its outage map as newly enhanced, noting it allows people to search by address and zoom in to get information about specific locations, with clickable icons to view outage numbers.
DTE rolled out a YouTube video on Feb. 5 explaining how to use the map.
“DTE’s new enhanced outage map offers an updated user experience, making it easier to get accurate and timely information right at your fingertips,” it states. “You will notice a simplified look ensuring users can get to the information they need quickly.”
By clicking on the menu button, users can report outages and downed power lines and check outage statuses.
By clicking on an information icon, users can toggle to view outages by zip code or county.
As of Friday afternoon, March 3, the map showed 223 DTE customers in Washtenaw County remained without power, representing 0.13% of customers. There still were over 2,000 other customers without power throughout the rest of DTE’s service territory in southeast Michigan, the map showed.
‘Absolutely unacceptable’: Washtenaw County leaders blast DTE Energy, Consumers after ice storm
Some residents have taken to social media to criticize the new map, pointing out it doesn’t allow users to see a broad view of the geographic boundaries of outages, instead now showing small icons with outage numbers for general areas. Some speculated that’s intentional to avoid people taking screenshots more clearly illustrating the expansiveness of outages.
Eyer said she was communicating with DTE throughout the outages, sharing examples of residents concerned DTE didn’t have their outage statuses correct.
She issued a call on Nextdoor for more people to share their stories, getting 140 responses from residents who expressed concerns about lack of information or inaccurate information from DTE, including neighborhoods being marked as having power restored when they still had no power.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this in our community before,” Eyer said of the mass confusion.
“You should be able to look up your address and get good information,” she said. “That’s the really concerning thing is that so many people were in the position of feeling like they had to — and they did have to — re-report because their whole neighborhood was mistakenly marked as resolved.”
DTE critics also have expressed concerns the for-profit utility, in a recent quarterly earnings call with shareholders, laid out plans to cut operations and maintenance costs this year by deferring maintenance work, delaying hiring, reducing its contractor workforce and limiting overtime.
That has some proponents of forming a public power utility reiterating calls to do away with DTE in Ann Arbor.
Is it time for public power in Ann Arbor? Group makes case after latest outages
In response to concerns about cutbacks, DTE said this past week because it invested more heavily in maintenance in 2022, the company is able to defer non-critical maintenance work this year and will reschedule the work for 2024.
The cost-saving measures are one-time only and maintenance deferment does not include critical reliability programs like tree trimming, according to DTE.
City Council Member Dharma Akmon, D-4th Ward, said on Thursday she was appalled some residents still had no power after more than a week since the outages hit.
In a post on Twitter on Friday, Council Member Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, D-3rd Ward, said she was contacted about an elderly resident on day nine without power, with another winter storm on the way. She encouraged residents still without power to email city officials at citycouncil@a2gov.org.
“All #a2council members & our mayor want to know if you’re still w/out power & help you get it back on,” she wrote.
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