As Michigan’s biggest electric utilities try to bounce back from slow restoration times and customer headaches, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has launched a new tool that may help customers see if their utility is putting its money where its mouth is.
MPSC says the application allows the public to access utility reliability data, analyzing utility performance at a “first-in-the-nation” level of detail. The new application allows a ZIP Code-level view of reliability data for Michigan’s two largest electric utilities, DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy Co., which combined serve more than 80% of Michigan customers.
Utility customers and other interested individuals can access the new data and maps at the MPSC’s GIS Hub Site, where links to other MPSC geographic information system (GIS) maps and applications that provide a growing amount of important energy data to the public can be found. The public can access the data from that page by clicking on “Electric Reliability” or directly at the app’s webpage.
Customers can click on their ZIP Code to see the average time they spend without power, how often they lose power, and the average time it takes for their power to be restored. MPSC argues this feature lets customers see how their utility performs in their ZIP code, whether the utility is actually improving reliability over time, and how that improvement compares to other ZIP codes.
“Michiganders deserve reliable and affordable energy services and transparency into the performance and location of the critical infrastructure that serves them,” said Commissioner Katherine Peretick. “We want the MPSC to be a source of accessible information so that customers, community organizations, researchers, businesses and others can engage in the regulatory process with ample data to help inform and shape decision-making.”
For now, the data are limited to DTE Electric and Consumers Energy electric customers. MPSC is working with other utilities to add their data to expand the breadth of information available.
In 2025, the MPSC unveiled a publicly available GIS Hub Site for maps focused on where Michigan gets its energy. The maps include utility service areas for all electric utilities in Michigan, as well as maps showing the locations of electric generation facilities ranging from those fueled by natural gas, coal or nuclear power to renewable energy sites including solar, wind and hydropower, and the routes of pipelines transporting natural gas, crude oil and refined petroleum products.
In 2024, Consumers Energy agreed to pay a $1 million fine over complaints of faulty meters and delays in electric and gas service. A subsequent audit also showed that Consumers Energy was lagging behind other utilities in its restoration times. The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) released results in September 2024 from an audit of DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy Co., an examination of the operations of the state’s two largest electric utilities aimed at getting to the root causes of low reliability and slow service restoration times.
Consumers’ 2022 and 2023 CAIDI metrics both including and excluding MEDs were in the 4th Quartile, worse than average among utilities. Consumers’ 2022 and 2023 SAIDI metrics placed them in the 4th Quartile including MEDs and in the 3rd Quartile excluding MEDs. More than 10% of Consumers’ customers experienced four or more interruptions (CEMI4) and more than 25% of its customers experienced interruptions of eight hours or more (CELID8hours) in 2023. Additionally, the utility’s use of catchall “weather” and “unknown” cause codes for outages is imprecise and masks what actually causes outages, MPSC said.
However, early last year, Consumers Energy said its average customer experienced 21 fewer power outage minutes in 2024 compared to 2023, and more than 93% of customers saw their power restored in less than 24 hours. In 2023, Consumers Energy restored power within 24 hours nearly 87% of the time.
Facts Only
* The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) launched a new tool for public access to utility reliability data.
* The application allows access to utility performance data at a "first-in-the-nation" level of detail.
* The data is available at the MPSC’s GIS Hub Site.
* The application provides ZIP Code-level views of reliability data for DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy Co.
* These two utilities serve more than 80% of Michigan customers.
* Customers can view average power outage times, loss frequency, and restoration times by selecting their ZIP Code.
* The MPSC argues the feature allows customers to see utility performance, improvement over time, and comparisons between ZIP codes.
* Data is currently limited to DTE Electric and Consumers Energy electric customers; the MPSC is expanding data collection.
* In 2024, Consumers Energy paid a $1 million fine regarding faulty meters and service delays.
* An audit of DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy Co. examined low reliability and slow restoration times.
* Consumers Energy’s 2022 and 2023 CAIDI metrics were in the 4th Quartile, worse than average among utilities.
* Consumers Energy’s 2022 and 2023 SAIDI metrics placed them in the 4th Quartile including MEDs.
* Consumers Energy experienced more than 10% of customers with four or more interruptions (CEMI4) and more than 25% with eight or more hour interruptions (CELID8hours) in 2023.
* Consumers Energy reported 21 fewer power outage minutes in 2024 compared to 2023, and over 93% of customers saw power restored in under 24 hours in 2024.
Executive Summary
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has launched a new tool to provide public access to utility reliability data, aiming to assess utility performance. This application allows the public to view ZIP Code-level reliability data for Michigan’s two largest electric utilities, DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy Co., which collectively serve over 80% of Michigan customers. Users can access this data on the MPSC’s GIS Hub Site by clicking on a ZIP Code to see average power outage times, frequency of power loss, and restoration times. The MPSC intends for this data to allow customers and other stakeholders to evaluate utility performance trends in their specific areas and compare performance across different ZIP codes.
The Commission seeks transparency regarding the reliability and location of critical infrastructure to inform the regulatory process. While the immediate data is limited to DTE Electric and Consumers Energy, the MPSC is working with other utilities to expand data availability. Previous audits by the MPSC examined the operations of these two utilities, finding that Consumers Energy's CAIDI and SAIDI metrics lagged behind other utilities, and identified issues such as imprecise outage cause coding. Despite these findings, recent statements from Consumers Energy indicated improvements in customer experience, noting fewer power outage minutes and faster restoration times in 2024 compared to 2023.
Full Take
The introduction of granular reliability data serves as a mechanism for shifting the locus of accountability from utility management narratives to verifiable operational performance observed at the customer level. The framework presented seeks to operationalize transparency, moving beyond aggregate metrics to allow for localized scrutiny. However, the initial deployment is strictly constrained by the scope of the utilities included, limiting its immediate capacity to assess systemic equity or infrastructure disparities across the entire state energy landscape, as it focuses only on the two largest providers.
The contrast between the MPSC's pursuit of detailed performance data and the utility operational histories reveals a tension: while the MPSC seeks to use this data to inform regulation—demanding transparency from critical infrastructure—the utilities have historically employed imprecise categorization methods, such as using catchall codes for outages, which masks root causes. This suggests that even with access to quantitative measures like CAIDI or SAIDI, the systemic failure often lies in data interpretation and reporting structure rather than mere operational execution.
The emergence of mixed performance indicators—where Consumers Energy reported improvements in restoration speed while still lagging in broader reliability quartiles compared to peers—highlights how metrics can be selectively framed. The real implication for agency is whether this new tool will foster genuine regulatory change, or if it will simply become another data point managed by incumbent entities. The necessary inquiry is whether expanding the data pool to include all utilities shifts the focus from benchmarking utility performance internally to enforcing true system-wide reliability standards that benefit the public interest directly. What alternative metrics would allow regulators to move beyond this current state of measured progress toward demonstrable, equitable resilience?
Sentinel — Human
The article appears to be a factual summary of public commission actions and utility performance audits, displaying the typical structure of investigative or regulatory reporting.