Frustrated Royal Oak Officials to Call on DTE to Explain Power Outages

City officials in Royal Oak have called on DTE Energy to explain and resolve problems that have resulted in ongoing and unexplained power outages.

City Commissioner Jeremy Mahrle told The Daily Tribune that DTE acknowledges problems with aging infrastructure that has caused outages and — in some cases, fires — but that’s as far as the talks have gone.

“My frustration is there is no solution for us … to challenge DTE to upgrade their infrastructure,” Mahrle said.

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He is drafting a resolution for the Oct. 5 City Commission meeting to address the situation. It will convey city officials’ frustrations with DTE’s response, and ask the utility for more transparency on when Royal Oak residents can expect more reliable service through upgrades.

The resolution is the best the city can do at this point because it doesn’t have sufficient data on power outages to file a grievance with the Michigan Public Service Commission, city attorney Mark Liss said in a memo to commissioners.

City officials have reportedly had difficulty understanding the technical jargon DTE representatives have used to explain the outages, which aren’t always weather-related.

“We still have areas of the city with constant outages that have nothing to do with the weather,” Mayor Jim Ellison said. “We want DTE to know we are still watching them and would like some response.”

A DTE representative told city officials that the Royal Oak area is slated for upgrades, but couldn’t say exactly when that might happen. It could happen next year, depending on priorities, Liss said.

» DTE Energy photo