Town Halls for Utility Customers Affected by Storm Outages

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wants to ensure Michigan residents are aware of upcoming townhalls that the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has scheduled in Dearborn and Jackson to listen to residents’ power outage concerns.

“The Michigan Public Service Commission decides whether or not utilities receive their requested rate increases or are required to provide other accommodations like automatic credits during sustained power outages,” Nessel said. “My office has advocated time and time again before the Commission and even hosted our own Town Halls on this matter. This is an opportunity for Michigan residents to ensure their concerns are heard. It is my sincere hope that in response, the Commission takes action that our residents so badly deserve.”

After the recent storms that left hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents without power. Nessel was quick to point out insufficient service quality standards. She also called on the utility companies to make infrastructure investments that result in a reliable power grid that does not fail customers when they need it most, especially in light of record rate increases that the utility companies have repeatedly requested from the MPSC.

Many residents have been dissatisfied with the $25 credit mandated by Michigan’s service quality rules. Nessel has also called on the utilities to automatically credit customers who suffer from outages and to increase the outage credit.

The MPSC will hold the town halls in the areas hardest hit by the ice storm. Both will take place on March 20:

12-2:30 p.m., American 1 Credit Union Event Center, 128 W. Ganson St., Jackson

5:30-8 p.m., Fordson High School Auditorium, 13800 Ford Rd., Dearborn

The MPSC also will hold a virtual town hall meeting, live-streamed over Microsoft Teams, March 21, 6-8 p.m. A link to participate through Microsoft Teams will be posted by the MPSC closer to the day of the virtual town hall on the event’s webpage at https://www.michigan.gov/mpsc/commission/events/2023/03/21/virtual-town-hall---electric-outages.