For Eli U. being a lineworker is a lifestyle.

Delivering reliable power to his home base of Northern Michigan is ALWAYS on his mind. Just ask his wife.

While he’s on vacation, he often glances up at the power lines and wonders how they power homes and businesses in that community.

“I don’t want to say she gets irritated, but I can’t help but stare up at them to see how they power their community just like back home,” he said with a laugh. “So, we joke about it all the time.”

That’s what makes Eli and his colleagues tick: the passion and attention to details by doing the job safely for our customers in even the toughest of elements. It’s part of their DNA that makes them lineworkers.

And a top priority for the Northern Michigan crews is continuing to provide reliable power. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big project like the Mackinac Bridge, where more than 4 million travelers use it each year or a small village with less than 100 customers.

So, what has been keeping Eli and his co-workers busy up north? A significant amount of activity is underway and will continue through the summer and rest of 2024.

One reliability project underway is relocating 0.3 miles of conductor to Ellsworth Road which will improve electrical service to 272 people in the Village of Ellsworth. Crews are moving the conductor out to make it more accessible along the road.

“This project will help cut down on outages caused by storms that have hit the area,” said Ian M., an engineer who has been tasked with working with crews to improve reliability.

And we continue to make strides in Northern Michigan. Here are some other reliability projects underway:

  • The Mackinac Bridge uses our primary service voltage on the south side to add equipment, such as transformers, to power lighting, traffic and weather instrumentation owned by the Bridge Authority. We’re working to improve reliability for the 4 million people who travel the bridge each year by replacing the underground primary line that feeds that section of the Mackinac Bridge.
  • Reliability was also improved to The Colonial Michilimackinac welcome center and park area. We’ve bored in a new primary line to feed the welcome center separately from the bridge. This new line improves the park’s reliability. We’re also rehabilitating aging equipment and replacing a welcome center transformer and bridge primary meter equipment.
  • In Gaylord, we’re doing reconductor work to 1.2 miles of line to improve reliability and allow for future automation and load transfers. The project will improve reliability to 1,973 customers.
  •  In Benzonia, we’re relocating 1.2 miles of lines to help improve reliability to 130 customers. This will also help by increasing electrical capacity.
  • We’re upgrading an automation loop between the Honor and Glen Lake substations to enable 780 customers to be automatically restored in the event of an outage.
  • In Gaylord Industrial Park, we’re replacing vintage underground cables and adjusting how they’re fed to reduce outages for 101 large industrial customers.
  • In McBain, we’re increasing the capacity of the circuit for 60 customers.
  • We’ve replaced multiple sections of underground wire in the Homestead area to improve reliability due to failing vintage underground conductor. This impacts 339 customers.
  • We’ve relocated 2.3 miles of deep right of way line to the road to improve access and reliability along Hodenpyl Dam Road. This will help 398 customers with their reliability.
  • In Mancelona, crews are relocating 0.5 miles of vintage copper wire from deep along Cedar River Road, which will impact 55 customers.

HVD, LVD work includes:

  • Backus/Roscommon County – Low Voltage Distribution (LVD) construction that will help improve reliability to 6,770 customers.
  • Houghton Lake HVD/Roscommon County – New High Voltage Distribution (HVD) /Substation installation with forestry starting in fall and construction in 2026 that will impact 3,400 customers.
  • Skyline/Crawford County – New HVD/Substation/LVD install/upgrade that will help 475 customers.
  • Greenwood/Ogemaw County – LVD construction sometime this summer that will help 4,235 customers.
  • Rose City/Ogemaw County – Substation upgrade with LVD construction that will impact 3,208 customers.
  • Whittemore/Iosco County – Substation upgrade with LVD construction will help improve reliability to 4,037 customers.
  • Tawas/Iosco County – Currently, in design with LVD construction taking place in summer/fall that will improve reliability to 2,985 customers.
  • Lincoln/Alcona County – Currently in design with LVD construction taking place in summer/fall that will impact 2,241 customers.

Whether you live in Northern Michigan or plan on visiting this summer, count on Eli and crews to power your summer fun!

Related blogs:

Northern Michigan: Eli’s Forever Home | Force4Michigan

Advanced Tools Lead to Confident Lineworkers | Force4Michigan