Usually when there are widespread power outages, it seems like Oxford and Addison townships are among the first to go dark and the last to see the light again.
But during the “Blackout of 2003” it appears fortune, and perhaps even a Higher Power, smiled on this area by sparing the majority of its residents from the outages.
DTE Energy spokesman Len Singer offered a more earthly explanation as to why most of Oxford and Addison kept its power.
According to Singer, the two townships receive their electricity from DTE.
However, during the blackout, Oxford and Addison drew their power from Consumers Energy, thanks to an “interconnection” between the two companies’ power systems.
Singer explained that the townships are “very close to the border between the DTE and Consumers’ service territory lines.”
Located at this border is an “interconnection” between the two service areas which “allows power to go between both companies,” he said.
The “interconnection” is used in “situations where an area needs additional power or has extra power to send somewhere else to balance the load,” Singer said.
Because the “ripple effect” of power outages during the blackout “dissipated” before it hit the Consumers Energy service area (which remained “largely unaffected”), “some areas where the interconnections existed remained up and operational by drawing their power from Consumers.”
Singer said this “alternate source” of electricity “isolated” most of Oxford and Addison from the blackout.