By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


DTE has made some significant improvements to the reliability of power to the Hamilton Farms condominiums and the adjacent Spring Hill development on Brighton’s northeast side.

Hamilton Farms residents, in particular, had been complaining for a long time about the frequent power outages in their 70-condo development. There are also 29 homes in the Spring Hill development on Spring Mountain Drive who were affected by the outages. According to spokeswoman Randi Berris, DTE has been extremely busy with the COVID-19 pandemic, but nonetheless the utility’s crews took a number of measures to upgrade the system over Easter weekend, including replacing or repairing two utility poles, restringing several sagging power lines and replacing parts on top of the poles.

Berris says other steps included adding animal guards to the equipment on top of some of the poles “to prevent squirrels or other animals from…wreaking havoc.” The goal was to get the work done prior to the high winds which returned last weekend. It appears to have worked, since residents on that side of Brighton reported no outages. Berris says DTE officials, in her words, “appreciate the customers sharing their concerns and pointing out to our engineers where they saw specific issues on the energy grid.” Hamilton Farms residents had previously said they experienced five outages in a four-day period toward the end of March, the most recent lasting 20 hours. DTE explained that the long power interruption was caused by high winds gusting in excess of 50 mph.

City Manager Nate Geinzer and Council Member Jon Emaus, who lives at Hamilton Farms, have been in contact with DTE officials about the latest outages and did their part to help get the ball rolling on the improvements.