DTE Energy Offers Tips For Winter Survival

With the severity of winter weather rapidly approaching, DTE Energy is bracing itself for the aftermath of Winter storms and urges its customers to follow suit.

DTE is reminding its customers that safety is the top priority and cautions to stay away from any downed power lines resulting from the winter weather.

During power outages, customers are encouraged to first check their breaker panels or fuse boxes and if all is intact, report the outages to DTE. Customers are advised that the company will not know for sure you are without power until it is reported.

People are also instructed to remove any dead or dying ash trees which have become a widespread problem due to the emerald ash borer, an insect that has invaded ash trees in several states. The insect has caused more ash trees to collapse especially during storms.

DTE is seeing more of these incidents and is urging people to remove any trees that could fall on their lawn to prevent any further damage.

Customers can report outages or downed power lines by calling (800)477-4747 or online at www.dteenergy.com. The company also has released an iPhone app available at Apple's App Store which also allows people to report problems.

Visit www.dteenergy.com for more helpful tips and also visit www.dteenergy.com/outage to sign up for free e-mail alerts to know when a storm is coming.

In the meantime, keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for traffic and weather, every 10 minutes on ths 8s, 24 hours a day. Check out our weather page anytime.