Business
Road Warriors: Consumers Energy Expands Fleet of High-Tech Vehicles to Find Gas Leaks, Protect Customers
Consumers Energy is hitting the road to protect the safety of its natural gas customers this year, deploying eight state-of-the-art vehicles that will survey the company's nearly 30,000-mile system to find methane leaks.
About this update from Cms Energy Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"JACKSON, Mich., May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers Energy is hitting the road to protect the safety of its natural gas customers this year, deploying eight state-of-the-art vehicles that will survey the company's nearly 30,000-mile system to find methane leaks.","length":269,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"image","alt":"Consumers Energy Logo (PRNewsFoto/Consumers Energy) (PRNewsfoto/Consumers Energy)","displaySize":"","headline":null,"caption":"Consumers Energy Logo (PRNewsFoto/Consumers Energy) (PRNewsfoto/Consumers Energy)","className":"","disableSlideshowImg":false,"size":{"original":{"width":400,"height":148,"url":"https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/90369efc5ff5a81ea9d967391ca3b35a"},"resized":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/_mbwgEgJkawPpFSViSbSNw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTI2MTtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/prnewswire.com/90369efc5ff5a81ea9d967391ca3b35a","width":400,"height":148}},"href":"https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/461461/consumers_energy_logo_Logo.html","hrefExternal":true,"rel":"nofollow"},{"type":"text","content":""We are getting ahead of potential problems, using this advanced technology to find and fix leaks. That's important for the safety of our customers, our coworkers and our Michigan communities," said Holly Bowers, Consumers Energy's vice president of natural gas engineering and supply. "We're excited this is the first year our methane detection vehicles will survey our entire system, giving us the precision we need to proactively find leaks and make our system safer for all of our customers."","length":528,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Consumers Energy last year expanded its fleet of methane detection vehicles to eight, allowing the company to look for natural gas leaks in more communities. The Ford Edge SUVs are equipped with sensitive mobile systems from Picarro Inc., traveling through the night when wind and other atmospheric conditions are best to gather data that provides a picture of potential natural gas leaks.","length":399,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Consumers Energy then dispatches natural gas workers to follow up and, if necessary, fix leaks. In one case, a vehicle last year detected that a home in Gratiot County was filling with dangerous levels of natural gas due to leaking appliances, and crews...