While thanking workers for their efforts to restore power after violent storms, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel asks Consumers to issue credit, plan better.

Many people spent days without power after strong thunderstorms and even a tornado ripped across the state in early August. Consumers Energy crews went to work almost immediately to restore power to over 250,000 homes and businesses knocked offline. A week later, the work is not entirely finished. As of 8:30 AM Monday morning, more than 67,000 customers remained without power in Michigan.

Consumers Energy offered customers a $25 rebate only if they applied for it online and only if they lost electricity for more than 120 hours. Michigan's Attorney General says that is not enough. While saluting the crews and "those who have worked tirelessly the last several days on behalf of the communities they serve," she also demanded the utility companies work hard to restore trust with their customers.

One way to restore confidence is to voluntarily adopt automatic outage credits and create a fund to assist customers displaced because of these increasingly frequent and powerful storms. We know that climate change is having a significant real impact, and a business-as-usual approach is no longer sufficient. That is why it's imperative that our utility companies adapt to the changing climate and needs of their thousands of customers. Consumers Energy and DTE must do better than this.

-Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel

This is not the first time the issue has come up. Nessel raised these same concerns in a July 2019 letter to the former Chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) in response to storms that year, and continued with comments filed with MPSC in August 2019March 2020, and August 2020Michigan utilities rank in the bottom quartile of reliability when measured against utilities around the country.

TIPS: Here's how you can prepare for power outages

 

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

 

More From 1240 WJIM AM