A tap failure hit Wyoming on Memorial Day

More than 10,816 Consumers Energy customers in the Wyoming area lost power on Memorial Day morning when equipment connecting two major utility systems failed.

The outage began shortly before 11 a.m. on May 25, according to the Consumers Energy outage map. WZZM13 reported that the outage map suddenly showed widespread power loss across the Wyoming area.

Three substations went offline

ITC Michigan reported that a 138kv electric transmission line had an outage around 11 a.m. ITC manages most of Michigan's high voltage electric transmission lines, operating more than 9,100 circuit miles of power lines and 403 substations across the state.

Consumers Energy later identified the root cause. A fault developed on a piece of Consumers Energy equipment called a tap, which connects the ITC transmission line to Consumers Energy substations.

"The outage was caused by a fault on Consumer's Energy equipment called a tap which connects the ITC line to Consumers Energy substations. Three substations were originally impacted and crews were able to isolate the impact and restore two of the three substations."

That statement from Consumers Energy was provided to WZZM13 on May 25.

Power returned by late afternoon

At the height of the outage, 10,816 customers were without power as of 1:20 p.m., according to WZZM13. More than 2,000 customers had their power restored by 2:15 p.m.

WOODTV reported that all power was restored around 5 p.m. Consumers Energy crews worked to reroute the remaining customers while completing repairs on the failed equipment.

Estimated restoration times had ranged from 2:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., according to the Consumers Energy outage map.

The outage covered Wyoming, Grandville, and Byron Township in southwestern Kent County. WOODTV reported the area affected included all three communities.

Another outage planned for tonight

Consumers Energy and ITC Michigan are continuing work in the same region. ABC12 reported that more than 2,300 customers in Byron are scheduled to lose power tonight, May 29, starting at 11 p.m. for planned equipment upgrades.

"We know losing power under any circumstance can be difficult for our customers," said Steve Herrygers, senior executive director of high voltage distribution for Consumers Energy, according to ABC12.

Service is expected to be restored by 7 a.m. May 30 at the latest for the planned outage.