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As of 7 a.m. Thursday morning 72% of Alpena Power Company (APC) customers have been restored leaving approximately 4,700 customers without power, according to a press release from APC.

All available crews are working to restore outages including assistance from Thunder Bay Tree Service, The City of Lowell, The City of Bay City, City of Sturgis, City of Lansing, Homeworks Tri County Cooperative, Thumb Electric Cooperative, the Hydaker-Wheatlake Company, Premium Utility Contracting and Kappan Tree Service. In total 41 contract and mutual aid crews are assisting Alpena Power employees in the restoration effort. APC expresses their thanks to the utilities and contractors helping in this difficult time.

As a reminder, the restoration process is designed to get essential services energized first then the largest number of customers on as quickly as possible. APC’s process consists of five stages:

1. Essential functions such as hospitals, 911, police, fire, water, sewer, etc.

2. Services such as fuel, grocery stores, pharmacies, etc.

3. Main feeder and distribution lines

4. Areas with the largest number of customers

5. Restore individual homes.

APC is currently completing stage four and have started stage five in the following areas:

*City of Alpena

*Alpena Township

*North Point Shores

*El Cajon Beach and North Point Areas

*Bloom Rd Area

*Monaghan Point Area

*Long Lake

*Grand Lake

*Lachine

The hardest hit rural areas are still between stage three and four depending on location including:

*US 23 South of Bird Song Bay

*Ossineke

*Hubbard Lake

*Spruce

*Herron

*Wilson Township

The goal is to have greater than 97% of customers restored by 9 p.m. on Friday, however some outages in the Ossineke, Spruce, and Hubbard Lake areas will last into the weekend.

Check outages at https://www.alpenapower.com/outage-center/.