Reliability investments resulted in major power interruption, outage duration reductions for DTE Energy in 2022
As the result of more than $1 billion of investments into its electric grid in 2022, DTE Energy reported this week that its customers experienced 21 percent fewer power interruptions than the previous year, and those who did face average outage duration times 40 percent shorter.
Work included trimming more than 6,500 miles of trees, inspecting equipment, and upgrading more than 8,500 miles of circuits across the company’s service territory. This included targeted work in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties, where work on the most challenged infrastructure increased customers’ electric reliability between 40-70 percent overall.
“We’re pleased to report that we continue to make solid strides in improving reliability for our customers,” said Matt Paul, executive vice president of Distribution Operations at DTE Energy. “2022 was a record year for investment in our grid, and the result was stronger reliability for our customers. In addition, with fewer severe weather events in 2022, our field crews were able to focus more consistently on grid resilience. It’s clear that as we invest in the grid, our customers benefit with improved performance and more reliable power.”
Macomb County saw the smallest reliability jump through these efforts, but it also required the least work, and even then, resulted in reliability improvements of approximately 45 percent. Wayne County saw improvements of approximately 58 percent, although that figure hovered at around 68 percent in the city of Detroit. Oakland and Washtenaw saw reliability improvements on the higher side of the range, at 65 percent and 69 percent, respectively.
Paul added that DTE intends to continue work across the rest of its 7,600 square miles of infrastructure in the days to come.
