Nessel looks to cut energy rate increase by 75%

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(The Center Square) – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is pushing back against Residential DTE Energy Co.’s request for a $600 million energy rate hike for consumers.

Nessel is recommending a 75% reduction in that request.

“DTE is once again showing us where its priorities lie – and it isn’t with Michigan ratepayers,” Nessel said. “At some point, this endless cycle of rate hike after rate hike from Consumers Energy and DTE must end. Why not now? Michigan ratepayers deserve utility companies that deliver affordable, reliable energy, not ones that treat them like blank checks.”

DTE wants the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve the $574 million increase three months after it approved a $217 million jump in energy prices.

Nessel filed testimony with the commission urging it to deny that.

“Just months after being granted a $200 million rate hike, DTE is back at the trough demanding half a billion dollars more from its customers,” Nessel said. “Our thorough review shows that nearly 75% of this proposed hike can’t be demonstrated to meaningfully improve service or do so cost effectively and stands only to enrich millionaire executives and far-flung shareholders.”

By law, utility companies can only file requests for rate increases every 12 months.

This request would increase the average customer’s monthly bill by $13.50, or 11%. It is the second-highest request the company has made in decades.

DTE argues the hikes are needed to keep up with inflation and improve the reliability of the energy system in Michigan.

"Rate increases support critical investments in the grid and DTE’s work to build the electric grid of the future is showing results," Ryan Lowry, DTE corporate communications, told The Center Square. "We want to build upon this success and meet our commitment to improve electric reliability while maintaining the affordability our customers demand and deserve."

Nessel wants just a 2.5% increase, also arguing that the money DTE is already receiving should be redirected toward vegetation management and tree trimming activities.

Her office argued in a statement that those efforts “have shown to be much more successful at decreasing customer outages, as opposed to the higher cost capital expenses.”

Michigan already ranks one of the most-expensive states in the nation for electricity costs, coming in with the 12th-highest retail price for electricity in the country. This is according to a May report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which looked at the average retail price of electricity for the residential sector.

DTE provides electricity to about 2.3 million customers in southeast Michigan and natural gas to another 1.3 million.