Jackson-based Consumers Energy reported third-quarter earnings Thursday, highlighting the cost-cutting initiatives the utility has taken after the high restoration costs associated with a near-record level of storm activity this year, it said.
–
“Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen an increase in both the frequency of storms and higher wind speeds, some of the most extreme winds within the last four years,” Garrick Rochow, president and CEO of Consumers Energy, said on the call. “We’re clearly seeing the effects of climate change.”
For example, he said the design standard for its system was to withstand 40 mph winds. Now, that’s been changed to 80 mph.He said those new realities are part of its “reliability road map” — a long-term plan to cut power outage times and shrink the number of customers facing outages simultaneously — that the utility submitted to the Michigan Public Service Commission last month.
Jackson-based Consumers Energy reported third-quarter earnings Thursday, highlighting the cost-cutting initiatives the utility has taken after the high restoration costs associated with a near-record level of storm activity this year, it said.
–
“Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen an increase in both the frequency of storms and higher wind speeds, some of the most extreme winds within the last four years,” Garrick Rochow, president and CEO of Consumers Energy, said on the call. “We’re clearly seeing the effects of climate change.”
For example, he said the design standard for its system was to withstand 40 mph winds. Now, that’s been changed to 80 mph.Rochow said on the call that Consumers Energy, as part of the rate negotiations between the utility, MPSC and other interested parties, came back with a rate increase request of $169 million and added that he “feels good about progress overall.”
He said, though, it’s important to get an underground pilot approved as part of the settlement. The utility has started work on a project to bury power lines in an area north of Grand Rapids but said that, longer term, there will be significantly more undergrounding “to ensure our system is prepared to withstand severe weather.”
The number of weather-related outages varies among U.S. regions—which partly reflects the weather each region experiences, as well as relative population density and infrastructure age.
- The Southeast had the most weather-related major outages (474).
- The Midwest ranked second in total weather-related outages (363), but first in outages due to severe weather (295).
- The Northeast was third in both weather-related (346) and severe weather-related (183) outages.
The states with the most reported weather-related power outages from 2000-2021 were: Texas (180), Michigan (132), California (129), North Carolina (97), and Pennsylvania (82)—all of which are ranked among the top 10 most populous states, however the populations of Texas and California are nearly three- to four-times larger than Michigan or North Carolina.
Why it matters: Electricity outages stand to become more common as extreme weather events — many driven by climate change — wreak havoc on the country’s aging power infrastructure.
The latest: State regulators with the Michigan Public Service Commission last week said they will increase the scope of an audit of the state’s energy companies that was announced last year and are weighing proposals to punish the companies, including financial penalties for repetitive outages.
- The latest incident of widespread power outages happened on Aug. 24 after a major storm generated seven tornadoes across southern Michigan, knocking out power to around 500,000 customers and leaving some without power for five days.
I like the way energy transmission expert Alison Silverstein described it as having Ozzie and Harriet infrastructure in a Mad Max world.