(WXYZ) — As of 6:11 a.m. Wednesday, 18,503 DTE customers remain without power. Consumer Energy is also out responding to 1,040 outages in the area.
According to DTE, power should be restored to the rest of its customers by the end of the day Tuesday. They're also offering customers an automatic $35 credit to their accounts if they lost power for more than 96 hours.
RELATED: DTE customers who went 96+ hours without power to receive automatic $35 credit
And while a credit is something, many DTE customers say it's not enough to cover the cost of lost food and hotel expenses they had to spend because they lost power.
"I got more than 35 dollars worth of food I had to throw away so I don't know about 35 dollars," Detroit resident Keith Rucker said.
On Detroit's west side, many have been braving the cold, rain, sleet, and snow while living in the dark.
"I've been [on] disability for 12 years. I can't stay in a house like that," Rucker said.
He says he lost power Thursday night and had to hunker down.
"I can't go to a hotel. I got no money for that, you understand what I'm saying? That's not right for a paying customer," he said.
Rich Robinson of Detroit says he has already shelled out at least $300 on hotel rooms for his mom.
"They told us Saturday, then Sunday, then it was today," he said.
Beatrice Barrett of Warren also still has no power and says it's been like sleeping in the front yard.
"We just don't understand why our power wasn't on. I'll give them 3 or 4 days but 6 days, that is a long time," she said.
Beatrice and her husband Thomas said in the last 6 days they've lost food, purchased firewood, and on top of that spent on takeout almost every night.
"We've probably spent maybe about $2,000 purchasing logs in different areas. Then trying to drive all the way across town. Then we invested in a kerosene heater. The food that we've lost. The time we've had to spend out sleeping in our car." Thomas said
DTE says they've invested over $1 billion in improvements over the last year, but this historic ice storm was the worst Detroit has seen in 50 years.
"We know this is a real challenge for anyone who's been out of power this long and were going to continue working until everyone's power is restored," Ryan Stowe, VP of Distribution Operations at DTE said.
Currently, DTE has 240 linemen and women working to restore power.
