DTE’s customers in Highland Park need and deserve safe and reliable power. That’s why we’re strengthening our infrastructure – so your lights stay on more reliably no matter the weather Mother Nature sends our way. Over the past few years, DTE crews have been working throughout the area to upgrade infrastructure and improve reliability. This work included:
- Accelerating our transition to a smart grid: We installed smart devices in the area, which are designed to pinpoint damage so crews can get to the damaged area and make repairs faster. Smart devices also enable damage to be isolated and power to be rerouted during an outage so many customers can be restored within minutes while crews make repairs.
- Upgrading existing infrastructure: Replacing and upgrading poles, crossarms, transformers, and other pole top equipment.
- Rebuilding significant portions of the grid: We’re working to replace the equipment that delivers power to you from scratch in certain areas. Rebuilding also increases the electric grid’s capacity to support growth and expand energy options like electric vehicles.
- Trimming trees: This is a foundational step to improving electric service as half of all outages are caused by trees damaging electrical equipment. Since 2020, we have trimmed over 40 miles of trees along power lines that serve Highland Park.
And we’re not done yet. This year, we will continue inspecting electric equipment, trimming another 35 miles of trees and installing stronger poles and pole-top equipment. The new infrastructure will protect against increasingly extreme weather. All of this work is part of our commitment to reduce the number of outages by 30% and cut restoration time in half by 2029.
When we invest, we know it improves reliability for our customers. That’s why we plan to invest more than $11 billion across the communities we serve over the next five years to make our grid safer and more reliable for customers.