Leland House power outage blamed on inaccessible customer-owned equipment, DTE says
DETROIT (FOX 2) - After a settlement was reached between the owners of the Leland House apartments and DTE to keep the power on, the lights went out Wednesday.
However, DTE said in a statement that this power outage was related to "customer-owned equipment that cannot be accessed due to existing structural hazards inside the building," and not an issue with unpaid bills that nearly resulted in the company cutting electricity to the historic Detroit building.
What we know:
Around 40 tenants are currently impacted after the power went out Wednesday and remains out as of Thursday morning.
In a statement, DTE said the company is "prepared to restore service as soon as the building owner can make the necessary repairs and ensure a safe environment." This includes making the equipment DTE needs to get to accessible.
The company also said it is working with the city to ensure Leland House residents have temporary housing.
Dig deeper:
Just after Thanksgiving, Leland House tenants received notices that they needed to move out. Originally, tenants were informed that they needed to be out by Dec. 3 because DTE planned to cut the power that day over the building's debt.
This led to an emergency hearing in which a settlement was reached between the owners and DTE to prevent the power from being shut off.
Earlier this week, Leland House paid $57,000 to DTE as part of the agreement in order to keep the power on and tenants home.
The other side:
FOX 2 has reached out to Leland House for comment. A statement from the building owner is expected later Thursday.