Consumers Energy Trims Trees To Reduce Power Outages 7-25-24

we haven't checked in with a representative uh from Consumers Energy in a while and looks like Consumers Energy will clear and remove trees along more than 7,000 miles of power lines this year it's all part of a stepped up commitment to protect electrical equipment from Mother Nature and reduce outages through the company's reliability road map and with us to talk all about it he a Holland resident himself Chris La is Vice President of electric operations for Consumers Energy happy Thursday Chris good morning sir hey good morning Dan good to hear from you again yeah you too appreciate you joining us this morning and uh it's been uh before we get to details on this reliability road map and what you folks are doing been a rather uh active summer for Consumers Energy as far as H power restoration and just keeping you guys busy that is for sure you know we looked and we had storms 26 out of 32 days uh in the month of June and early July so Mother Nature has been challenging us but we're responding and making sure that we're prepared every single day to get out there and restore power when it goes out and continue to work our plan to make sure that power doesn't go out and Chris as I mentioned here we're going to talk about uh trees near power lines being uh cleared and line clearing Chris is H just one of your main ways to keep the lights on talk about uh why that's so important yeah trees are the number one cause of outages across our system um we've got 95,000 miles of line there's about 14 billion trees in the state of Michigan um I didn't come up with that number I've read that through a research study that Michigan State University did but it's a big challenge for us and uh as Mother Nature brings in high winds and ice and rain and other items those trees and those limbs come down on our lines and uh take our system down and cause power outages for customers so I've been here 24 years this is the most aggressive that we've ever gotten we're going to trim over 7,000 miles a line this year we're going to continue to do that year over year as we go forward and as you mentioned it's part of our reliability road map to make sure that we get towards our goals and no more than 100,000 customers out and everybody restored within 24 hours again it is Chris L vice president of electric operations for Consumers Energy talking about consumers energy clearing seventh over 7,000 miles of trees near power lines Chris I'm wondering though of course trees across Michigan everywhere everywhere how do you identify uh the areas where you need to do this clearing yeah we have a new system that we uh built internally called wise and we use lar GIS maps we work with different experts to look at tree density and growth rates across the state and we identify the hardest hit areas how we're going to go in and do that work put the higher number of crews in there um so we continually look at that we also historically look at where we had outages have they been tree caused so there's a big system and a big machine that uses technology to help us build our work plan so that we can go out and identify in addition to that we take customer feedback we incorporate that into our plans as we go out and do the trimming Chris I'm sure too uh for customers that are having uh trees trimmed by Consumers Energy uh Crews any tips for them kind of just to let let the crews do their do their work yeah our Foresters are happy to have conversations with customers um you can also go to our website at consumersenergy.com forestry um there's a lot of great information there you can call our one 800 number which is 1 8004775050 we can put you in contact with a Forester uh but when they're out there doing their work make sure you're giving them room give them safe space so they can go out and take care of their uh work and do so safely not only for themselves but for the public as well and Chris as I mentioned we're talking about that reliability road map and line clearing Apparently one of the several tactics you guys employ carrying out that reliability Road mapap you laid out for cons uh customers last year can you talk more about that for people that aren't as familiar with a reliability road map yeah our road map is our 10-year plan to continue to improve reliability and resiliency across our system our long-term goals are no more than 100,000 customers out when mother nature does uh rear up and then everybody's restored within 24 hours so as you mentioned tree trimming is just one tactic for us it's a major tactic for us it's very visible when you go out and cut trees you can see we've done that work but we're also varing power lines we've got new iron ductor poles that we're putting in we're putting in bigger and beefier poles and conductor different kind of tree wires new technology on the system that can automatically transfer power from one zone to another to have minimum impact on our customers so we have a lot of plans in place we're excited about it uh we're about year two into that plan it's a 10year plan like I said but tree trimming and forer work is instrumental in our success of that plan Chris obviously summertime uh you know we're little bit more than halfway through here but we are more than likely are going to get more severe weather and just reminder for customers what to do what the best uh way to uh deal with if you uh lose your power yeah if you lose your power make sure you're calling us let us know we will do everything to get somebody out as quickly as possible and then just from a couple of safety reminders if you have a generator make sure that it's outside in a well ventilated area if you see a wire down stay away from it call us at 1 18004 4 77505 we'll get somebody out as soon as we possibly can and then when our crews are out working please stay out of their work zones whether that's walking into them or if you're driving just move out give them some extra space so they can safely do their work Chris uh somewhere uh our listeners can go on the web to learn more about reliability road map and what you folks are working on yeah that's true so consumersenergy.com reliability roadmap they can learn a lot of great details on there Chris always a pleasure Chris l vice president of electric operations for Consumers Energy talking all about clearing over 7,000 Mi of trees near power lines it's all part of that reliability road map hey Chris if you ever drop by uh Drive By The Station come by and stop by and say hi we've talked on the phone many times but have not had the opportunity to meet face to face so appreciate your time this morning have a great day and uh look forward to the next time we can chat yeah sounds good I'll make it a priority to get in there Dan have a great Thursday