DTE Energy, Consumers Energy face power-outage challenges

By COREY WILLIAMS and JULIE WALKER
Associated Press

Experts say changing and increasingly severe weather patterns and an electrical infrastructure designed for a different time and climate can be blamed for power outages that left more than 800,000 Michigan homes and businesses in the dark over several days. And while the state’s two largest utilities say they are investing millions of dollars to prepare the electric grid for such events now and in the future, some residents didn’t expect to see power back on in their homes until a week after the first of two storms hit the state.