Lawmakers propose 'Ratepayer Bill of Rights' to address energy prices

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(The Center Square) – Michigan Democrats have joined a coalition of advocacy groups pushing Michigan’s first Ratepayer Bill of Rights in an effort to bring down energy prices.

The legislative package detailing the rights is expected to be soon be introduced in the state House and Senate by members of the coalition, which has labeled itself “Our Bills Are Too Damn High.”

State Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Detroit, is one of the representatives leading the effort to rein in Michigan’s utility companies. He and other coalition members spoke at a press conference.

“We’re putting all utility companies, including DTE and Consumers, in this state on notice that we are standing up for people; we’re standing up for families who can’t pay the bills and are fed up with outages and shutoffs,” McKinney said. “I’m here to stand up for Michigan residents and constituents in my district who can’t keep up with the rising energy costs and unreliable service they have no choice to pay for.”

Currently, Michigan 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.

This comes as Residential DTE Energy Co.’s, one of Michigan’s largest utility companies, recently requested a $600 million energy rate hike for consumers. DTE argues price increases 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.”

Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest energy provider, also recently filed for an annual electric rate hike of about $436 million.

At the news conference, the coalition accused utility companies in the state of “pocketing profits” instead of making the necessary investments to improve Michigan’s power grid.

“Every increase takes more money off the kitchen table and makes it harder to keep up. I hear it every day from my constituents in Grand Rapids, the bills are just too high,” said State Rep. Kristian Grant, D-Grand Rapids. “That’s why I’m refusing to take a dime of big utility money and why I’m committed to holding these companies accountable in Lansing. It’s time we put people first.”

According to the coalition, the bill of rights would:

• Guarantee the right to fair compensation when the power goes out

• Ensure residents no longer pay the highest energy costs in the Midwest for some of the worst service in the country

• Protect residents from paying for CEO bonuses

• Ban political contributions to state lawmakers from the utility companies

• Ensure residents can generate their own reliable energy through solar

A Growing Problem

Michigan’s energy grid has long been a cause of concern, as previously reported by The Center Square.

Studies have flagged that, though Michigan consumers are paying more than many Americans for electricity, the state has also consistently dealt with a less reliable power grid.

One of those is a 2024 report from nonprofit research and communications group Climate Central, which found that Michigan experienced the second-highest number of weather-related power outages in any state from 2000-2023. Only Texas ranked higher than Michigan’s 157 major power outages with 210.

Restoration time is also a problem for Michigan.

According to the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan’s 2024 Utility Performance Report, Michigan is the 9th-worst state for restoration time following an outage. It also greatly underperforms compared to neighboring states.

“Among its neighbors, Michigan has the highest number of outage minutes per customer, driven largely by the duration of outages rather than their frequency,” CUB reported. “In other words, while Michigan does show a high vulnerability to outages, its poor performance is driven by Michigan utilities being slow to act to restore service.”

It also found that Michigan utilities’ average time for restoring power after an outage was 513 minutes, compared to the national average of 335 minutes.

“Michigan’s performance on most reliability measures places it among the worst performing states,” the CUB report found.

A 2023 Report Card for Michigan’s Infrastructure from the Michigan section of the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Michigan’s energy system a D, which was the lowest score it gave on the report.

CUB said it is up to companies to work to improve this system.

What is the Solution?

The coalition, which includes groups like Detroit Action, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action, argued government action is needed to address the rising prices.

“Energy affordability is a major issue in this state and it’s not going away — it’s only getting worse,” said Scott Holiday, executive director of Detroit Action. “The missing component here has been a Ratepayer Bill of Rights that forces our legislature and governor to step up and do their jobs.”

Jason Hayes, director of energy and environmental policy for Michigan’s Mackinac Center, has previously told The Center Square that “electricity choice” would help solve the high costs for consumers.

The center argues that electricity choice would allow consumers to have more options for electric services, instead of receiving service from the utility company that services everyone in their community.

“When most Michigan residents and businesses sign up for electricity service the only choice they are legally allowed is between buying electricity from a single, regulated, monopoly utility company or having no electricity at all,” the Mackinac Center reported in its Policy Guide to Energy Choice in Michigan.