Consumers: Residents can turn thermostats back up at midnight

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Consumers Energy has announced that Michigan residents will be able to reset their heaters to previous levels after the emergency request to lower thermostats to 65 or lower.

Consumers announced that Michigan residents can change their thermostats back after Midnight Friday.

The request to lower thermostat temperatures came after a fire at a compression plant in Macomb that occurred Wednesday, which knocked out three plants. While officials were unsure about the cause of the fire, they thanked the public for its response to lowering their thermostats.

What Consumers didn't plan for was the incapacitation of the Ray compressor station. At the time, the energy provider was distributing 3.3 billion cubic feet of gas throughout the state - a record for Consumers Energy. 

The company made the request for residents to lower their thermostats to 65 degrees last night, after discussing the situation with Governor Whitmer.

Around 4:30 Thursday, Consumers Energy said they could give the all clear - effective Friday at midnight.

CEO of Consumers, Patty Poppe, apologizes for the utility's inability to fully service Michigan residents during the record demand of this record deep freeze.

"We plan for these extreme conditions - we had enough gas available," she said.

But Wednesday morning's fire knocked the largest storage and delivery facility offline, forcing the extraordinary request to be made by both Consumers and Whitmer.

Consumers said that enough people heeded the warning to make a big enough difference. 

"We had a 10 percent reduction on the system. That was a game changer for us overnight. It was extremely important and we cannot express our gratitude deeply enough," Poppe said.

Consumers said that 79 major users - including universities and the big three all cut back their usage dramatically.