LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — State Senator Sean McCann of Kalamazoo announced on Monday, March 13 that the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will hold a hearing later this month on the storm-related power outages in Michigan in February.
The committee, which McCann chairs, has scheduled the meeting for Thursday, March 23 at the Capitol Building from 8:30 to 9:50 a.m., with representatives from the Michigan Public Service Commission, DTE Energy, and Consumers Energy invited to participate.
February’s ice storm caused more than 700,000 Michigan electric customers to lose power, resulting in many households who were without power for several days.
In scheduling the hearing, McCann said, “The meeting on the 23rd will be an initial hearing focused on assessing the issues specific to the February event. Future hearings will continue to examine why Michigan customers face such frequent outages, why it takes so long to recover electricity service, and what options does the Michigan Legislature have to improve the performance of our utilities going forward.”
“While power outages are sometimes unavoidable, the frequency and length of outages is becoming unacceptable,” added McCann. “We must set a path to dramatically improve the performance of all our utilities and examine every option to reach the goal of uninterrupted—or at least promptly restored—service. The committee, the Senate and the Michigan Legislature will explore our options to mitigate the effects of future storms.”
