Frequently Asked Questions

Never assume we know that your power is out. While we have equipment installed on our lines to indicate areas without power, customer outage reports help pinpoint specific sites without power. Your report will help us determine the full extent of an outage and to strategically deploy our crews to restore power efficiently.

You can quickly report an outage in DTE’s Outage Center using your address or the phone number associated with your DTE account.

Once you’ve reported an outage, you can have updates sent to you via email, text or both. You can also return to Outage Center to check your outage status and view the Outage Map for information on outages in your area.

Sign In to your account to receive outage alerts by email and/or text or to update your alert preferences. Select My Profile and Preferences and add or update your Notification Settings.

You can also manage notifications and your account by using the DTE Energy Mobile App, or use our automated phone system at (800) 477-4747 to report an outage or get a restoration estimate.

Your report enters our outage management system, which helps us determine the extent of outages and takes into account our outage data, reports from other customers, current weather conditions and other factors.

After the extent of the outage is determined, we prioritize your outage report and send it to our dispatch center for assignment to a line crew for repair. Learn more about our power restoration process.

You can use View Outage Map in the DTE Outage Center. Search the outage map by typing in your address, or you can filter by your ZIP code or county.

You may receive an outage alert if you’ve opted to receive outage notifications by email or text. To set up or update alerts, sign In to your account, select My Profile and Preferences and add or update your Notification Settings.

If electricity is out in some rooms, or lights are unusually bright, dim or flickering, please use Report an Outage in DTE’s Outage Center. You will have an opportunity to select the type of electrical problem you are experiencing and provide comments.

Power problems caused by an electrical issue inside your home, business or other buildings are not DTE’s responsibility.


Internet, cable or landline phone problems might be caused by a power problem from a different utility company. Please contact your service provider and follow downed power line safety practices.

This is an infrequent message and there are two possible ways to reply:

• We may ask you to reply to confirm your power is on. For example, our meter indicated a power disruption at your address though there are no known outages in the immediate area.
• If we do not ask you to confirm your power is on, you do not need to take any action. There may have been a momentary disruption in the power supply that triggered your meter to indicate you are without power. We have teams actively monitoring the grid 24/7 and will cancel false alarms.

We understand how inconvenient outages are for our customers and make every effort to provide timely and accurate restoration estimates. After a severe weather event, it can take several hours for our teams to assess the extent of damage and develop our restoration plan. Then, we can develop schedules and provide you with an estimate regarding your restoration.

We assess all outages to understand the extent of the damage and the number of customers impacted. A variety of inputs are taken into consideration when calculating your restoration estimate, including:

• the extent of damage to your area’s utility infrastructure, including downed power lines, broken poles and fallen trees
• crew resources, including in-state and out-of-state crews from other utilities
• the number of impacted customers

Our damage assessment helps provide you with the most accurate estimate possible and shows why we are often unable to have an immediate restoration estimate following a big storm. We understand the delay in receiving information can be frustrating.

Learn more about our power restoration process.

Two types of restoration estimates are made available following a severe weather event:

• An overall restoration goal for all impacted customers will be posted on our Outage Center and included in all our news updates to local media channels. For example: “XX% of impacted customers will be restored by end of day (Day, Month).”
• A specific restoration estimate for your home or business. In severe weather situations, you will see a day-level estimate (example: Day, Month). This means we expect to restore power to your location no later than 11:59 p.m. that day.
  

Sign in to receive outage alerts by email and/or text or to update your alert preferences. Select My Profile and Preferences and add or update your Notification Settings.

There are three ways to see your restoration estimate:  

• Check your outage status in DTE’s Outage Center.
• Search by your address on the DTE Outage Map.
• Receive text and/or email notifications if you have opted-in for messages.
  

Sign in to receive outage alerts by email and/or text or to update your alert preferences. Select My Profile and Preferences and add or update your Notification Settings.

After our crews complete repairs and a restoration message is sent, there may be a secondary issue that requires additional repairs and delays restoration for some customers.

If you receive a power restored message but remain without power, please use the link provided (“I am Still Without Power”) in the message to re-report your outage.

DTE provides customers with a bill credit for extended outages. For a customer who experienced a lengthy outage on or after Oct. 1, 2024, the credit is $40. Learn more about electric reliability credit requests for extended and frequent outages.

DTE is not legally responsible for damage caused by an act of nature. If you have homeowners or renters insurance, please check with your insurance company to see if your losses are covered by your policy. If you believe DTE caused damage to your property, please review the Property Loss or Damage section of the Damages & Reliability Credits page, where you will also find the damage claim form.

DTE is responsible for repairs to the meter itself. We are also responsible for the service drop, which is the line either above ground or underground running from the utility pole to your home.

You are responsible for all other additional equipment at the meter location, including the service entrance cable. Contact a licensed electrician to complete any repairs that are your responsibility.

Visit our Damages & Reliability Credits page for an illustrated explanation of meter equipment responsibilities.