Regulators Approve Half of DTE Gas Request
The Michigan Public Service Commission on Thursday approved a $74.5 million net rate increase for DTE natural gas customers, effective October 1. The amount is half of the $162.7 million net increase DTE originally requested, according to the commission. For a typical residential customer, the approved hike translates to an additional $2.87 per month.[S1]
Shortly after the approval, DTE Gas Co., a subsidiary of DTE Energy, announced it intends to file for an additional increase by the end of the year. In its filing notice, the company did not specify the amount it will request but said it plans to submit the application by mid-November. DTE described the notice as a required first step under commission rules, which mandate at least 60 days' notice before a rate request, and said it does not change any customer's bill.[S1]
Electric Rate Case and County Pushback
This gas rate request arrives while a distinct DTE Energy electric rate proceeding, submitted to the commission in April, is still pending. In that filing the company asked for another $474 million, saying the money would back billions of dollars in spending on the electric grid and on power generation. Should regulators grant it, household electric bills would climb roughly 10%, with the change taking effect in March 2027.[S1]
Officials in Oakland County say they will fight the proposed 10% electric increase and are asking residents to share old DTE bills to demonstrate the financial impact of rising rates. Wayne and Macomb counties are also intervening in the case. Oakland County Board Chair David Woodward, a Democrat from Royal Oak, said a 10% rate increase is unaffordable for working families and pledged to use every tool available to secure lower rates.[S1]
Attorney General and Lawmakers Criticize Utility
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Friday criticized DTE for quickly seeking another natural gas rate increase while families struggle to keep their homes warm. Nessel said the system is fundamentally broken and that ratepayers deserve better from regulated monopolies, from a commission that she said splits the difference between corporate greed and affordable rates, and from elected officials she accused of looking the other way.[S1]
Understand this article deeper
According to Consumer Reports, Michigan electricity rates have risen more than 17% over the past three years. DTE has filed for five rate increases in the last seven years, while Consumers Energy has sought electric rate increases every year since 2020. Under Michigan law, utilities may file a rate increase request once a year. DTE said in April that it would pause future electric rate requests for two years if its first data center project goes online by the end of 2027.[S1]
Outages, Credits, and Reliability Debate
The rate approval and new filing announcement came less than a week after severe storms left hundreds of thousands of Michigan households without power for days. Many communities and officials expressed frustration with the utility's rate hikes and unreliable service during severe weather. DTE maintains that the increases are necessary to improve reliability, stating that bills remain below regional and national averages and that outage times improved 90% from 2023 to 2025.[S1]
Regulators recently lifted outage compensation from $35 to $44 for each day a customer is left without power for a prolonged period, yet numerous ratepayers and elected officials argue that amount is still too small. Newly introduced state Legislature bills this week would instead pay customers by the hour during lengthy outages. Backers of the Senate measures say the credits are designed to push utilities to avoid drawn-out failures and to stop them from offsetting the payouts through higher monthly bills. State Sen. Stephanie Chang, a Detroit Democrat and co-sponsor, described witnessing Detroit and Metro Detroit residents endure long outages, losing food and other scarce resources, and said they deserve genuine remedies and honest compensation when the grid fails for reasons outside their control.[S1]
