Consumers Energy Reports Faster Power Restoration Times in 2026

During the March 2026 storms, which left 340,000 customers in the dark, 80% of households regained power within 24 hours. This marks a 16% improvement over similar events from the previous year and a 26% gain compared to the severe February 2023 outages. The utility saw even greater efficiency in June, restoring 91% of 238,000 affected customers within a single day—a 35% increase in speed over comparable storms from 2023 and 2025.

Norm Kapala, an officer in charge of storm response, attributed the progress to a multi-year effort focused on tree trimming, the installation of hardened equipment, and better resource positioning. These operational adjustments are central to the company’s Reliability Roadmap. Following a series of heat-related events in early July, preliminary data indicated that 71% of customers were back online within 24 hours, while a September weather event saw 90% of affected users restored in under 8 hours. Greg Salisbury, senior vice president of electric distribution, noted that the data validates their current strategy for managing extreme weather across the Lower Peninsula.