When The International Church of Metro Detroit was building an addition to serve the child care needs of their community, the construction team discovered the overhead power lines obstructed their ability to complete the project. Since lines ran directly through where the addition needed to go, use of a generator was the church’s only option for power during construction of the expansion.
The new addition during the construction phase
Thomas Friar, planner in Planning and Design at DTE took the reins on this project and worked with the church’s pastor, Art Wilson, to ensure they had the company’s support.
“The church really wanted to get the addition going, so I talked with Steve Smith, overhead supervisor out of our Western Wayne Service Center and he quickly got a crew at the site for the removal,” said Thomas.
About six weeks into construction, the church realized that the cost to run the generator was much more than they had anticipated and reached out to DTE for assistance. By this time, they were far enough into the new build that construction of the new service was possible. Thomas met with Pastor Art and explained what would need done for DTE to connect power to the site before the addition was complete.
Thomas and Steve expedited the request to connect power for the church. DTE Lineman Leader, Kyle Szabo and crew were out within days and quickly built a new pole line further west on the property to get the church permanent power again.
The finished product, all set with new power lines!
The crew’s quick response got the International Church of Metro Detroit off their costly generator and back to being powered by DTE.
Thanks to teamwork and the individualized attention given to this job, Pastor Art and his church got their power back just before Christmas, several weeks before their originally scheduled date, saving the church thousands of dollars in fuel costs for the generator.
In a letter of gratitude to DTE, Pastor Art shared what our willingness to go over and above meant to his church. “Please know that your assistance was more than just a professional service, it was a lifeline for our church community. Your team’s urgency, empathy, and commitment reflect the very best of DTE Energy’s values and community spirit. We are forever grateful.”