Comprehensive weather insights help safeguard your operations and drive confident decisions to make everyday mining operations as safe and efficient as possible.Navigating Weather, Technology, and Public Safety: A DTNsights Conversation with Consumers Energy
Extreme weather is reshaping how utilities plan, operate, and protect their communities. On a recent episode of the DTNsights podcast, host Renny Vandewege, GM of Weather and Climate Intelligence at DTN, sat down with Eric Wojciechowski, Director of Emergency Response at Consumers Energy, to explore how one of Michigan’s largest utilities is adapting to this new reality.
The conversation immediately clicked. Both understand how weather shapes everything utilities do, from daily reliability planning to major emergency response.
A Career Shaped by Weather and Operational Challenges
Wojciechowski shared how his utility career started at Consumers Energy after finishing his master’s degree at Michigan State University.
After moving through several roles, he got his first real exposure to storm restoration in 2019. He described getting hooked on the pace, the coordination, and the mission-driven nature of the work. That early involvement eventually led him into his current role, where he now oversees emergency response for the entire electric system.
Lessons Learned from Historic Ice Storms
In recent years, Wojciechowski has helped navigate Consumers Energy through some of the most challenging storms in its history.
Two of the six largest storms the company has ever experienced—both catastrophic ice storms—occurred in 2023 and 2025. Together, they knocked out power to more than 350,000 customers, downed thousands of wires, and created icing conditions that tested every part of the organization.
“Working those events was a privilege and a challenge,” he shared. Inside the emergency operations center, teams worked with the constant awareness that families were sitting in frigid homes during cold of winter.
“It reinforced the urgency of staying prepared and keeping the public safe,” he said.
Prioritizing Public Safety Before and After the Outage
When asked which weather events cause the most concern, Wojciechowski explained that it is less about the type of weather and more about preparation.
Whether it is ice, wind, or thunderstorms, safety always comes first. That means ensuring customers understand risks, stay alert, and avoid downed wires. Then comes restoration, carried out with speed and purpose.
“Bad things happen when people lose power,” Wojciechowski pointed out. “That sense of urgency drives us every day to protect the public and get the lights back on as quickly as possible.”
The Modern Utility: Digital Tools Driving Faster Decisions
The utility industry has undergone a technological transformation in recent years. The stereotype of utilities as “slow-moving” no longer reflects reality. Today, utilities depend on advanced digital tools to support storm planning, analyze threats, and maintain situational awareness during high-impact events.
Wojciechowski explained that like many modern utilities, Consumers Energy is increasingly powered by data, modeling, and real-time forecasting. These tools elevate decision-making and allow teams to react more efficiently when minutes matter.
How AI Is Strengthening Outage Prediction and Crew Strategy
Artificial intelligence has become one of the most promising additions to the emergency response toolkit. With more accurate predictive models, utilities can anticipate how severe weather will impact the grid and position crews accordingly.
“Consumers Energy has made significant advances in internal meteorology, modeling, and the ability to predict how weather will impact the system,” Wojciechowski said. “Better forecasting means more precise crew deployment, reduced risk, and improved customer outcomes without increasing operational costs.”
While the long-term goal is fewer outages and fewer downed wires, he acknowledged that it’s a journey. AI-driven strategies are helping accelerate progress, enabling the utility to act earlier and more effectively.
Preparing for Emerging Threats: Wildfire Risk in the Midwest
The conversation also touched on wildfire risk, which many people do not associate with Michigan. But Wojciechowski pointed out that the state has experienced two of the largest wildfires in the country, and the tragic fire in Hawaii served as a powerful reminder that no region is immune.
“We are taking the threat seriously and preparing for worst case scenarios,” he said. Consumers Energy has expanded monitoring for red flag warnings, strengthened its internal meteorology program, and recently enacted a public safety power shutoff policy.
“We hope we never face that scenario,” he added, “but we want the public to know we’re prepared.”
Building a Culture of Readiness
Wojciechowski emphasized that Consumers Energy is evolving from a restoration-focused organization to one anchored in full-spectrum emergency response.
“When I moved into this role, my title was deliberately changed to send a clear message that we will treat every potential emergency impacting the grid with the seriousness it deserves,” Wojciechowski explained.
Preparation now goes beyond storms. It includes policymaking, monitoring, drills, and scenario planning. The recently formalized PSPS policy is one example of becoming more proactive rather than reactive.
A Shared Commitment to Safety and Innovation
The conversation ended with mutual appreciation between Consumers Energy and DTN. Both organizations share a commitment to safety, innovation, and building more resilient communities.
For emergency responders like Wojciechowski, the weather intelligence and insights provided by DTN help ensure Michigan families are better protected when severe weather threatens.
Watch the Full Podcast Episode
To hear the full conversation with Eric Wojciechowski on the DTNsights podcast, watch the episode here.