Consumers Energy: the other half of Michigan's grid
Consumers Energy is Michigan's largest energy provider, delivering electricity and natural gas to 6.8 million residents across all 68 counties of the Lower Peninsula. The company has placed reliability at the center of its strategy with the multi-year Reliability Roadmap, a plan that aims to keep any single weather event from affecting more than 100,000 customers and to restore power to every customer in less than 24 hours.
- The size of the Consumers Energy network and the regions it covers
- Why power outages happen on the Consumers grid
- The Reliability Roadmap and what it has changed in 2024 and 2025
- How Consumers Energy uses smart technology and renewables to reduce outages
From the Lake Michigan shore to the Thumb: 1.9 million electric customers
Consumers Energy serves the entire Michigan Lower Peninsula, with a footprint that runs from the Indiana and Ohio borders in the south up to the Mackinac region in the north. Around 1.9 million homes and businesses are connected to its electric grid, while a separate gas network serves a larger combined customer base.
Key figures for the network:
- Around 1.9 million electric customers across Michigan.
- All 68 counties of the Lower Peninsula are served, covering rural, suburban and urban areas including Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Kalamazoo and Saginaw.
- Combined gas and electric service reaches 6.8 million of Michigan's 10 million residents.
- Energy Supply Plan calls for more than 13 GW of new renewable and clean resources plus 1.5 GW of new natural gas capacity.
Consumers Energy is regulated by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) and is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), headquartered in Jackson, Michigan.
Storms, snow and falling trees: the main outage drivers
Outages on the Consumers Energy grid are mostly weather-driven. The territory covers a large rural and forested footprint, which means storms have a big impact and vegetation is a constant factor.
Severe weather
Ice storms in winter, thunderstorms in summer, high winds and tornadoes are the largest source of outages on the Consumers grid. In 2025, weather-driven outage events were up roughly 20% versus 2024, with one of the most active tornado seasons in Michigan since 1950 and historic ice storms in the spring.
Trees and vegetation
Trees falling on power lines remain one of the most frequent causes of unplanned power outages on the network. Consumers cleared trees and branches from more than 8,000 miles of power lines in 2025 alone.
Aging poles and equipment
Older wooden poles, transformers and switchgear fail more often as the asset base ages. Replacing utility poles with stronger units that can handle more severe weather is one of the biggest line items in the current investment plan.
Rural geography and long lines
Across the rural parts of the Lower Peninsula, distribution feeders cover long distances with relatively few customers per mile. That makes the system more exposed to weather damage and slower to restore than denser urban grids.
The $1.5 billion Reliability Roadmap
The Reliability Roadmap is the framework for nearly all current grid investments. About 80% of customer rate increases over the past five years have funded reliability work, including pole replacements, sensor deployments, line inspections and substation projects.
Consumers Energy 2025 reliability work in numbers
About 2,700 distribution reliability projects completed in 2025.
32,173 utility poles installed or replaced.
26,069 miles of power lines inspected by crews, helicopters and drones.
Over 12,000 line sensors installed to catch issues earlier.
8,000+ miles of vegetation cleared along power lines.
31 ATR loops created and 96 reclosers added to automatically reroute power during outages.
130,000 fewer customer outages despite 20% more weather-driven events.
Three new substations were brought online in 2025 and seven fractionalization projects divided existing distribution circuits into smaller sections, which limits the number of customers affected when a fault occurs and supports load growth in expanding communities.
The average customer has experienced a 28% reduction in outage time since 2021, with continued improvements expected as the Reliability Roadmap progresses toward its long-term goals.
ATR loops, reclosers and forestry: how Consumers cuts outage time
Automatic Transfer Reclosing (ATR) loops
ATR loops automatically reroute power around a fault. When something hits a line, the system isolates the damaged segment and restores power to most customers in seconds. Consumers added 31 new ATR loops and 96 reclosers in 2025 alone.
Line sensors and grid intelligence
More than 12,000 line sensors are now installed across the network. They detect anomalies on a circuit before they turn into a full outage and let crews respond proactively rather than waiting for customer calls.
Helicopter and drone inspections
Consumers inspects more than 26,000 miles of power lines per year using a combination of ground crews, helicopters and drones. Aerial inspections are especially useful in rural and forested terrain where pole-by-pole ground walks are slow.
Fractionalization and new substations
Fractionalization splits long distribution circuits into shorter sections so a single fault affects fewer customers. Combined with three new substations brought online in 2025, this is one of the most concrete tools the company uses to limit the size of any individual outage.
Renewables, gas peakers and storage
The Energy Supply Plan calls for more than 13 GW of renewable and clean resources alongside two new natural gas plants totaling 1.5 GW at the Karn site in Bay County and Thetford Township in Genesee County. Battery storage and solar projects are being added in parallel to support reliability during heat waves and cold snaps.
Outage tools, alerts and energy assistance
Consumers Energy outage map
Consumers publishes a public outage map updated in near real-time. Customers can search by address or zip code to see whether their area is affected, view estimated restoration times and follow crew status. The map is the main reference during major Michigan storms.
Mobile app and proactive alerts
The Consumers Energy mobile app gives access to the outage map, lets customers report a power outage, and sends SMS, email and app alerts when service is interrupted in their area. Alerts include estimated restoration times and updates as the work progresses.
EV charging and PowerMIDrive
Consumers runs the PowerMIDrive program, which subsidizes home and public EV charging across the territory and rewards off-peak charging. The goal is to manage growing EV demand on local distribution circuits without creating new evening peaks.
Bill assistance and efficiency
Consumers participates in the Michigan Energy Assistance Program (MEAP) and runs efficiency programs that have generated billions in lifetime customer savings, with rebates available for heat pumps, smart thermostats, weatherization and lighting.
DTE Energy and Michigan's main ISPs
For a wider view of how the U.S. electric grid works and why outages happen, see the U.S. power outage page. The other major Michigan utility, DTE Energy, covers the southeast of the state. For internet outages in the same Michigan footprint, the most common providers are AT&T, Spectrum and Xfinity.