Residents Still in the Dark Despite Council Presentation from DTE Energy

George Chapp said a has fallen three times since July 4. The last break came just 36 hours after DTE Energy fully restored power to the city, following a 2 1/2-day power outage.

At Monday night's City Council meeting, during public comment, Chapp focused his time on DTE Energy.

DTE Regional Manager Michael Palchesko and Senior Engineer Carl MacNeil were on hand to represent the company. They had previously given a presentation about the cause of the power outage affecting the majority of Ferndale residents from until .

"I'm not here tonight to hash over the events of the last couple days," Chapp said. "My concern has to do with the wiring in the city itself. In the last three years as a current resident, without exception, transformers have blown out, wires came crashing to the ground, and melting. I have a 20-month-old son. My concern is: is it going to take someone getting hurt, getting killed, before DTE says they'll fix this?"

The energy giant offers a $25 credit if a resident files a claim during an outage, if it is approved. Chapp had a different idea: "How about DTE takes that $25 credit and puts it toward fixing the grid?"

Those who want to claim a $25 credit should call 1-800-477-4747 and file with DTE. Though the website states spoiled food as part of an outage won't be reimbursed. Palchesko said residents should file anyway.

DTE claims the outage was due to a heat wave. Temperatures lingered in the 90s as the outage occurred and the mercury climbed to nearly 100 degrees on Thursday.

Mark Blackwell, who lives in southwest Ferndale and lost power during the event, said he wasn't impressed with DTE's presention.

"I didn't have any questions for DTE, but it doesn't sound like they have to answer anyway," he said, referring to a question-and-answer period DTE held with City Council.

Blackwell said the right question wasn't asked directly to DTE officials anyway.

"No one is taking a serious look at: maybe it's not just the heat," he said. "I'm 53. And I see 90-degree heat, and you don't see power blowing out all over the country. If there are flaws in the system, heat is going to seek it out. It doesn't mean that the heat is going to cause the power outage."

Blackwell also took issue with the fact that each night of the outages, DTE claimed the power would be restored between 9 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

"It's not the power outage, it's the dishonesty... It sounds like someone is giving you a story and we're not getting honest answers," Blackwell said. "We've been through a lot in this city and we can handle an outage, but we need honest answers."

Scott Moloney, owner of , an eclectic ice cream shop on Woodward, said his was one of the many businesses that lost power during the outage.

"We were affected like a lot of the other businesses with the outage," he said. "But I have a utility bill due this week for $16,000. So we will pay that because we know what it's like to not have power."

Moloney requested that DTE be reach out to businesses when it comes to outages.

"If (DTE) could proactively communicate to us what we can do," Moloney said. "Anything they can do."

On a positive note, Moloney said there was a lot of support from the residents and the other business owners in the community. "Eight businesses offered me freezer space, but I didn't take the offer," he said. "I thought the power would have come back sooner."

Read about DTE Energy's explanation of what happened and City Council's questioning of the incident .