After a storm: a downed line, a torn-off mast, and who fixes which part

The first minutes: distance, 911, then the utility

Treat a line on the ground as live until the utility says otherwise. DTE tells customers to stay at least 25 feet away from a downed power line, to assume every downed line is live, and to call 911 if there is an emergency. It adds that you should not touch anything the line is touching or drive across it, and that if a line lands on your vehicle you should stay inside and call 911. Consumers Energy gives the same 25 feet and the same instruction to call 911 first.

After 911, call your utility. DTE’s electrical emergency line is 800-477-4747, a number published on its Empowering Michigan safety page. Consumers’ report-an-issue page says to call 911 right away and then call 800-477-5050. DTE’s gas emergency line is a different number, so keep the two apart. Your bill names your utility, and the state’s service-area map confirms it by address.

If you smell burning, see smoke or sparks, or flames, leave the building and call 911 before anything else.

What you own and what the utility owns

Who repairs what depends on where ownership changes hands, and that point is at your house, not at the pole. Consumers says service drop attachments, meaning house knobs and masts, are furnished, owned, installed and maintained by the customer. The service head, riser, conductors and equipment on your side are customer-owned too. The company runs the overhead drop from the street to the building.

DTE draws a similar line. Its service requirements say service entrance wiring runs from the service connection to and including the meter equipment and service disconnect, and that providing and installing an approved meter enclosure is the customer’s responsibility. Underground service differs a little: Consumers owns the underground facilities up to a termination point, normally the meter socket, and the customer owns everything on the load side of it.

So when a limb takes the mast off the wall, the wire in the air is the utility’s and the pipe it was clamped to is yours, and an electrician, not the utility, is the first call for the mast.

Why the utility waits for an electrician

Consumers says its crews will reconnect the wires to the mast, but only after a licensed electrician has checked or repaired the pole or cable, and it asks you not to touch the mast or the cable above the meter. DTE’s rule is stricter about repairs: it will only make temporary repairs to customer-owned service entrance equipment, and the customer is told in writing that the temporary service will be removed in fifteen days and that a contractor must be engaged at the customer’s expense for permanent work. That is not a deadline on the electrician, but it is a reason to start calling the day the storm passes.

How long until the lights are back is the question everyone asks, and the utility pages give no time for this kind of reconnection. Ask the electrician for a schedule and for a call when each step is done. While you wait, tell the electrician if someone in the house depends on electricity, for example for a medical device.

The permit and inspection steps after emergency work

Michigan’s rules let an emergency job move quickly without skipping the paperwork. R 408.30823 says a utility may reconnect service before the enforcing agency approves, after emergency repairs by a licensed electrical contractor, and that the contractor must secure a permit by the next business day. The relief stops short of new service connections, upgrades, structural fires and other planned modifications.

For work that is more than a repair, R 408.30827 says the enforcing agency shall approve service equipment installed, altered or repaired before the load side of the meter is energized. If the repair grows into replacing the meter socket and panel, it becomes a panel upgrade and the ordinary inspection sequence applies. Our permits guide shows how to find the office that enforces the code at your address. Ask the electrician who is pulling the permit and whether the fee is in the quote.

Do not touch the meter or its seal

The meter seal belongs to the utility. Consumers’ service requirements say tampering with a meter seal is prohibited by Michigan law, and that if a seal must be broken in an emergency the company must be told promptly. DTE says customers and contractors may not break seals to open or move meter connection cabinets without permission. All connections and disconnections between the utility’s supply and your service facilities are made by the utility or someone it specifically authorizes. If the electrician says the job needs the meter pulled, ask who will arrange that with the utility.

Hiring an emergency electrician

MCL 339.5731 lets only an individual licensed under Article 7 install electrical wiring, with narrow exceptions, so ask each company for its license number and check it on the LARA lookup. Our guide to finding a licensed electrician covers the lookup in more detail, and our emergency electrician page explains how matching works. We are a referral service, not an electrical company.

Before you call anyone for a quote, write down the time the line came down or the mast tore loose, and photograph the damage from a safe distance before anyone touches it, and keep the electrician’s written findings for your insurance claim. Ask what the permit covers and what the utility will do separately. Find out whether the quote covers only the mast and weatherhead or also the meter socket and the cable down to the panel, since a torn mast can pull on all three. Keep the permit number, the inspection sign-off and the date the utility reconnected in one folder, in case anything fails later.

Generators during an outage

A long outage tempts people to carry a portable generator indoors. Consumers says never to run one inside your home, garage, basement or any enclosed area, and to keep it at least 25 feet from an enclosed area. Plugging a generator into a wall outlet can send power back onto the lines, so don’t. Where outages are frequent, a permanent installation with a transfer switch is the usual answer, covered in our generator and transfer switch basics guide.