ALPENA, MI – A northern Michigan utility is looking to dodge a requirement it issue $40 bill credits to customers who went days without power after the catastrophic ice storm in late March.
Alpena Power Co. argues the storm that snapped hundreds of thousands of acres of tree branches like twigs and cast the region into darkness was an “act of God” causing widespread blackouts it could not possibly have avoided.
Automatic outage credits for customers could total between $1 million and $1.5 million, a hefty sum for the power company serving only 16,750 customers in the Alpena area, the utility estimated in an April 17 filing with state regulators…