Common Causes of Power Outages: Power To Weather The Storm

While this may be an easily preventable power outage, the fact remains construction work and human error leads to many power outages across Michigan. From utility lines being damaged or knocked down to landscapers cutting underground lines, accidents happen. Many power companies require surveys before digging. Still, mishaps happen. If you accidentally cause an outage, be sure to report it promptly and clear people from the damaged areas to keep everyone, including animals, safe.  

While high winds and the heavy, wet snow that is common in Michigan is often a cause of downed trees, it’s when they come in contact with a power line that causes a blackout.  

Managing the amount of tree growth near lines or power infrastructure is an ongoing project for power companies in an effort to keep the lights on. It’s not uncommon for companies to provide tree trimming services throughout the year to mitigate this problem.  

When you think of power outages, storm damage may be the first reason that comes to mind. 

In Michigan, this is for good reason. DTE reports strong winds and winter ice storms to be one of the most common reasons for power outages among DTE customers. Did you know just one-half inch of ice can add an extra 500 pounds of weight onto power lines? With our punishing winters, it’s easy to see how ice storms can have such a widespread impact.  

In addition to storm damage, lightning can cause damage by itself. When lightning strikes equipment like transformers, wires, and poles, outages occur quickly and often require additional supplies and tools for repair, causing outages to last longer than expected.  When lightning strikes electrical equipment, transmission towers, wires, or poles, outages can occur.

Water and electricity are a very dangerous combination. For that reason, in the event of a flood, either from a storm or a bridge or dam breaking, power companies are forced to turn the power off intentionally to prevent damage to equipment and injury. For this reason, many power stations are built at a higher elevation to try to avoid this problem. 

With electrical poles and power lines often running close to many busy roadways, it’s not uncommon for an auto accident to knock over poles and damage lines. While utility companies work with law enforcement to place important transformers and equipment in low accident areas, mishaps still occur and can cause outages for those served by that particular power line, usually only a few homes or so.  

Power companies often supply electricity to very large areas of Michigan, this means many power lines, distribution lines, and high-voltage power plants and substations are located throughout the state. While companies often have proactive plans in place to maintain equipment, failure still can occur.  

When this happens, crews are often able to make repairs quickly and restore power to customers soon.  

The warmth and gentle hum of power lines make them a perfect environment for small animals like squirrels, chipmunks, and snakes to inhabit. These animals can chew through power lines or climb on or inside important equipment. Power companies work to avoid this by installing special covers and fencing important areas.  

Like any machine or infrastructure, it’s occasionally necessary to schedule planned repairs or outages. Utility companies may need to schedule routine maintenance, complete larger repairs, or make upgrades to mitigate unplanned outages. For most of these scheduled outages, the power company will let you know in advance and include an estimated length of time power will be off to help you can make alternative plans.  

There are sometimes scheduled outages that are not communicated to the public ahead of time because it must be done quickly for safety issues. Typically, your utility company will follow up with a reason for the outage shortly after.  

Although not the most common issue in Michigan, power has been known to go out due to high demand. On especially hot days, when many people in the area are running their air conditioning units, the power grid must work overtime. This can lead to excessive demand and can overload the system causing outages.