Representatives of Detroit Edison are doing their best to assure residents of Orion Township that the power outages that have recently become a normal occurrence should soon be a thing of the past.
DTE Regional Manager Michael Palchesko was invited to the Jan. 5 Orion Township Board meeting by township supervisor Jerry Dywasuk.
Dywasuk felt residents should have an opportunity to ask DTE representatives about recent outages in the township, such as the Dec. 8 outage which crippled traffic on Baldwin Road.
‘We are sensitive to the frustrations power outages cause,? Palchesko said. ‘We are doing investigations.?
Ed Miller, who supervises DTE’s power quality group, gave a basic explanation of how DTE provides electrical power to consumers. He said that two of the township’s power substations, Baldwin and Coats, were affected in the recent outage.
‘What happened as far as the December incident…We have to do improvement work on those systems,? he said. ‘We are in the process of upgrading wire size, and that caused the catastrophic event as far as the recent outage…on Dec. 8.?
Miller said DTE was also faced with the April ice storm and blackout last August. He said a ‘catastrophic? storm refers to over 110,000 people being without power.
‘At that point we bring people in from out of state and we have a storm plan. People are taken off their normal assignments and put on storm detail,? Miller said.
He explained that during a storm, DTE starts with the area that they get the highest number of calls from, and set up a ‘bucket plan? for attacking the storm.
‘We do police, fire and emergency services first…Sometimes with people on a smaller pocket, someone has to be last. We try to service townships equally.
‘Sometimes we’re not as fast as we could or should be, but it’s all being examined,? Miller said.
Miller advised residents to immediately call DTE’s 1-800 number (1-800-477-4747) if they experience power problems, and not just rely on others to report the situation.
‘People should also call if they have voltage concerns,? he said. ‘Anyone who does call in, we really put them into our database and determine where they are on the circuit…If you’re experiencing an outage, don’t depend on your neighbor to call.?
Miller said DTE’s system is set up on a global location number, so that if only one resident calls, they think only that resident’s home is without power.
Another issue affecting power quality is tree density per line mile, which is two-three times higher in Oakland County according to Miller.
‘It makes it very difficult to keep everyone in service as much as we’d like to,? he said, adding that DTE is constantly monitoring things ‘behind the scenes,? and doing wire upgrading and maintenance.
Trustee Will Wilsher told Miller that the area of Clarkston Road and M-24 in the township had been experiencing problems with low voltage and power spikes since June.
‘Right now my house is being monitored…I want residents to know that something will be done if you do call in,? Wilsher said.
Miller said DTE has two requests for work in place to upgrade transformers this year at Orion substations.
‘That’s what was causing part of that problem,? he told Wilsher.
According to Ed Halash, manager of DTE’s engineering group, many upgrades were planned for the Orion Township area to deal with increased load concerns.
‘We’re replacing two transformers (at Baldwin and Coats substations) to go from 10 million volt amps to 15,? Halash said. ‘That’s based on load increase (in the township). We put patrollers out, and they literally walk the line on all of these circuits.?
Halash said line clearance for Coats was finished at the end of July, and line clearance for Baldwin was scheduled for this year.
‘That should improve things quite a bit,? he added.
Trustee Richard Tomczak said the township has seen increased problems with power since Great Lakes Crossing and other nearby shopping areas were opened.
‘What can you tell Orion residents to ensure them there will be a reduction in the number of outages?? he asked.
‘There are things we’ll be doing and a number of things we’ve finished doing that people probably haven’t had a chance to see the impact of yet,? Halash said. ‘We have a new Giddings substation going into operation soon, we put $4.9 million into that. We’ve spent over $200,000 reconductoring the system.?
A new substation was also opened in Pontiac that will affect the township’s power supply in a positive way.
‘We did identify the Baldwin and Coats substations as sensitive areas,? Miller said.
‘So do you have any plans to help alleviate outages in that area (Baldwin and Coats)? ? asked Oakland County Commissioner Eric Wilson.
‘Coats is a one-transformer sub, so that’s a concern,? Halash said. ‘When that line goes down, you lose the whole substation. Essentially, this is where we need to upgrade.
‘We’re definitely chasing a real problem as far as load growth,? he added.
Tomczak thought it would be a good idea for DTE to provide the township with a five-year plan for dealing with Orion’s power, so township officials could inform the residents.
Residents can call Miller directly with concerns for the power quality group by calling 1-877-591-6960. However, residents should always call the 1-800-477-4747 number first in an emergency.