DTE Electric Rate Hike Slashed in Half as AG Nessel Helped Save Customers Nearly $240 Million

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s efforts in DTE Electric’s latest rate case have helped save the utility’s customers nearly $240 million. Yesterday, the Michigan Public Service Commission (Commission) approved yet another electric rate hike requested by DTE, which will allow the company to collect an additional $217,380,000 in revenue from its ratepayers beginning in February. Though the approved rate hike is 52% lower than DTE’s original request for a $456.4 million increase, it is stacked on top of a previous DTE electrical rate hike approved by the Commission only 14 months ago.   

DTE Electric filed the rate increase case in March 2024, initially seeking permission to raise residential customer electricity rates by approximately 10%. In her filed testimony, the Attorney General argued that DTE should receive no more than $139.5 million, or approximately a 2.5% increase. Yesterday’s Commission Order represents an increase of about 5% for residential customers. The Commission agreed with the Attorney General in removing DTE’s private corporate jet travel expenses as well as $39 million in incentives that were tied to shareholder financial benefits. 

“This case was filed immediately after DTE received approval from the Commission for a staggering $368 million annual rate increase. Combined with this latest rate hike, DTE has obtained approval to rake in nearly $600 million in additional annual revenue from ratepayers in just 14 months,” Nessel said. “While I applaud my team’s tireless efforts in saving DTE customers over $500 million during this time, I remain deeply concerned about the relentless pace and magnitude of these enormous rate increases. More work must be done to limit DTE’s unsustainable rate growth at the expense of ratepayers while improving customer reliability. My office will continue to stand up for Michigan consumers and fight these incessant rate hikes.” 

Since taking office, Attorney General Nessel has helped save Michigan ratepayers more than $3.4 billion. Last year, Attorney General Nessel helped save DTE gas customers more than $150 million. She is also currently reviewing several other rate hike requests before the Commission, including a $248 million annual hike proposed by Consumers Energy for its gas rates. Consumers Energy’s rate hike request comes only five months after the utility received authority to increase its gas rates by $35 million.