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Michigan residents continue to wait for power five days after ice storm sweeps state

Utility companies have been working through the weekend to restore power, but about 165,000 people still are in the dark as of Monday night.

TECUMSEH, Mich. — Thousands in Michigan are still without power five days after a massive ice storm hit the state.

Power companies like Detroit-based DTE Energy and Jackson-based Consumers Energy have been working through the weekend working to restore power to their customers, but many are still in the dark.

As of Monday night, it's an issue about 148,000 people are experiencing across the state, according to power outage tracker PowerOutage.us.

Joe Roth, of Tecumseh, is one of multiple people on his street using generators to keep the lights on and the house warm while they wait for the power companies to get things up and running again.

Roth isn't sure when that day will be, though. His power could turn back on Tuesday morning or he could be waiting until next weekend. His calls for service to his provider, Consumers Energy, have been answered by automated messages for the last five days.

"We understand you have been without power for 114 hours, line crews are still working to restore power," the automated voicemail said.

Roth has heard the same automated message from Consumers Energy every time he's called. The only thing that's changed is how long he's been without power when he's told service would be restored.

At one point, he was told Friday at 5 p.m. Then it got pushed back to Saturday. Now, the automated message is telling him to expect to be back online by Tuesday.

Repair trucks were seen at his neighbor's house on Monday, but Roth said he isn't confident about his power company's newest estimate either, revealing that part of his neighborhood's power line is still sitting in his neighbor's backyard.

Roth said the work would take much longer than 24 hours.

And with the specialized gas running in his generator going one $6 gallon per hour, Roth worries that he will be paying a high price to stay warm before his power is restored.

In response to these continuing issues, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is pushing for utility companies to reimburse residents by providing automatic credits for anyone who lost power and additional credits for food and housing expenses.

Nessel is also pushing for utility companies to put more weather protections on their grids.

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