LANSING, Mich. — The last major ice storm Michigan had was right before Christmas in 2013 on December 22nd.
And, it took the Board of Water and Light, Consumers Energy, and DTE nearly two weeks to get power restored to everyone.
The BWL alone had 40% of its customers lose electricity.
The BWL told FOX 47 News that they've learned from the last ice storm and that they have spent the last few years working to minimize the damage from the next one.
Dick Peffley, BWL General Manager said, "After the last storm we had, our response time wasn't what we found acceptable."
He added that the ice built up quickly in 2013 and brought down tree branches which then took out power lines across the area. He said that one of the main responses afterwards was to do a better job of trimming trees to protect the lines.
"It was a five-year program to trim trees away from our lines - we're within months of being done with that, so the bulk of our service territory is in good shape. That should minimize any of the outages."
He also said that all BWL departments are on call and that there are extra crews that can be brought in to help if things get bad again.
If you experience a power outage the BWL says that customers should report it immediately.
By calling it in right away, a customer will get in line for repairs and help make the estimated restoration times more accurate.
You can use this linkto report an outage.
Want to see more local news ? Visit the FOX47News Website.
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