DTE Energy has made great progress in building a better and stronger electric grid for its customers. Because of hard work and investment, along with less bad weather, time spent without power for DTE customers in 2024 was nearly 70% better compared to 2023, service territory wide.
In the city of Detroit, the gain was even bigger, with an 80% improvement in the total time customers spent without power, between 2023 and 2024.
“When we invest, it works. Thanks to the combination of $1.5 billion of investment in the electric grid last year, coupled with less extreme weather, our customers experienced a significant improvement in electric reliability in 2024,” said Matt Paul, president and chief operations officer, DTE Electric. “Our work to build the electric grid of the future is showing results, but we have a lot of work ahead, and tremendous investment to be made, to achieve the sustained electric reliability improvements our customers demand and deserve.”
DTE is working on its four-point plan to build the grid of the future. That plan includes:
- Switching to a smart grid
- Upgrading and replacing infrastructure
- Rebuilding significant portions of the grid
- Trimming and removing trees near power lines
Here are some of the big improvements DTE made while working through this plan in 2024:
- Smart Grid Technology: DTE added over 450 new smart devices to the grid. These devices help find and fix outages faster. In 2024, these smart devices helped avoid nearly 10,000 outages and saved 4 million minutes of power interruption. They also helped avoid more than 50,000 customer outages.
- Upgrading Infrastructure: DTE crews inspected and upgraded equipment on over 850 miles of electric lines and replaced nearly 3,400 power poles.
- Rebuilding the Grid: When DTE rebuilds a portion of the grid, it means new, modern substations and fully upgraded equipment that carries electric power to customers. Twelve new substations are currently being worked on, including three projects that began late in 2024.
- Tree Trimming: Trees and branches contacting equipment account for half the time DTE customers spend without power. In 2024, DTE trimmed or removed trees along more than 4,300 miles of power lines. Over the last five years, they have trimmed or removed trees from over 31,000 miles of power lines.
To learn more about DTE’s latest work and projects, you can check out their Power Improvements Map or visit empoweringmichigan.com.