Trees and branches making contact with power lines is the leading cause of outages – making up 40% of all interruptions.
“My job contributes to reliability by providing line clearances that provide safe and reliable power supply to our customers.”
Tonya Tuntevski is an associate forester in the Zeeland and Allegan service territories.
By trimming branches and removing trees, Consumers Energy hopes to prevent outages before they happen as part of its Reliability Roadmap plan which includes upgrades in equipment, strategy and technology.
Crews focus on high-priority areas, balancing tree health with safety and reliability.
Consumers Energy has seen significant improvements in areas where trees have been cleared.
“It's not that you can’t plant a tree by a power line or under a power line; there’s just a right tree for the right place.”
The average customer had 21 fewer power outage minutes compared to the previous year, and over 93% of customers had power restored in less than 24 hours.
If you have questions about tree planting or trimming, you can contact Consumers Energy by phone or through the website.
