Michigan's Public Service Commission hears Metro Detroiters' plight during town hall
DEARBORN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Thousands of Michigan residents were left in the dark after severe ice storms wreaked havoc.
Southeast Michigan energy provider DTE is facing growing scrutiny over its infrastructure.
On Monday, dozens attended a town hall at Fordson High School, held by Michigan's Public Service Commission.
"My hope is that this commission will work with the utilities to maintain reliable power and to not cater to the special interest," said one speaker.
Another speaker said, "Ninety percent of the outages that my neighborhood has suffered, there was no storm. It was a nice day."
The recent ice storm outages aren't a one-time thing. Many Metro Detroiters allege even in the slightest of conditions they are sometimes in for an outage.
"I'm not very happy to hear that people on this stage call this a weather event…it's not because of the weather it's because of a lack of investment," one woman said.
Michigan's federal leaders including Congresswoman Debbie Dingell believe if the commission doesn't begin to take action, the problems will continue with DTE.
"I don't ever want to hear the calls of where people were in life-threatening situations. People had no place to go because they didn't have a family member, or a hotel, or motel that they could get into let alone afford," Dingell said.
DTE currently serves more than 2 million Michigan customers.
The energy company is offering a $35 credit to those affected by the outages, which many feel is a slap in the face.
"We are shouting that's not fair in hopes that someone will listen to us and do the right thing! Not just the folks in Grosse Pointe Michigan," one speaker said.
With criticisms surrounding the energy company, the MPSC plans to audit the energy company in the near future. The MPSC looks to answer how to avoid the issue again, and what exactly went wrong during the major power outages
