Quote:
According to DTE officials, after seven outages on that circuit in 2005 and 2006, DTE replaced about 1,200 feet of small overhead primary with larger wire in the area of the circuit cable pole at Mack and Anita. In addition, two transformers were installed around Anita and Goethe to improve voltage, and a new primary and new transformers were installed in the area of Hampton and Charlevoix to accomplish the same goal. DTE performed pole-top maintenance in 2007 and completed tree trimming in 2008. The utility reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair and upgrade the aged system.
However, although the number of power failures in most segments of the city declined, part of the city continued to suffer from frequent and sometimes long outages. After repeated requests for answers from city officials, City Council member Vicki Granger said DTE officials investigated the matter and discovered that they hadn’t finished the job they started four years ago. Because of a change in the utility’s reporting system, additional steps that supposedly would have addressed outages on this circuit weren’t taken, and no one noticed the omission, she said.