Consumers Energy Gets Federal Funding to Update Electric Infrastructure

Consumers Energy will receive $100 million from the US Department of Energy to strengthen Michigan’s electric grid.

Consumers will use the federal funding to strengthen the backbone of its electric system in disadvantaged communities where the most investment is needed to limit outages. The energy company will replace more poles and equipment, plus add new technology to detect and respond to outages. The funding will help Consumers accelerate its Reliability Roadmap, an initiative which aims to have no outage affect more than 100 thousand customers and prevent outages from lasting more than 24 hours.

Consumers will match the spending with another $100 million once the grant is finalized and the work is done over time.