(The Center Square) – Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest energy provider, filed this week for an annual electric rate hike of about $436 million.
This would make it the largest increase requested in decades and comes just months after the state approved a $154 million electric rate hike.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she plans to intervene in the request, which she has labeled “corporate greed.”
“Before Consumers Energy, or anyone else for that matter, can even begin to measure any affordability or reliability improvements from their last rate hike, the company is back in business asking to bill their customers an additional $400 million annually,” Nessel said in a press release. “My office will thoroughly scrutinize this request and will not be deterred in our fight to protect Michigan ratepayers from corporate greed and endless, increasing rate hikes.”
The current rate hike request would take effect in March and would increase overall rates by 9.2% and hike household rates by 13.3%.
Residential DTE Energy Co. also recently filed for a rate hike of nearly $600 million, which would increase the average customer’s monthly bill by $13.50. That was its second-highest request the company has made in decades.
“Our bills are too damn high, and this latest request – mere months since the last increase – is a slap in the face to Michiganders that are struggling to afford their bills,” said Bob Allison, deputy director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.
The companies argue the hikes are needed to keep up with inflation and improve the reliability of the energy system in Michigan.
“We know our customers are counting on us to deliver energy more reliably,” said Chris Laird, Consumers Energy’s vice president of electric operations, following the last rate hike. “[The] plan approval gives us more resources to do important work that affects people directly.”
These requested rate hikes coming so soon on the heels of other rate hikes have caused outrage and public protests.
Last week, Clean Water Action, Detroit Action, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Michigan United Action and Voters Not Politicians rallied at a state-organized town hall to call on regulators to rein in the constant rate hikes.
“We’re sick and tired of paying the highest energy costs in the Midwest for some of the least reliable service in the country,” said Erik Shelley, an organizer for Michigan United. “So we were there to let state regulators know they should not approve any more energy cost increases given Michigan ranks near dead-last when it comes to the cost and reliability of the power we receive.”
The town hall was organized by the Michigan Public Service Commission, which regulates energy prices in Michigan.
Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Detroit, joined the rally.
“The MPSC just approved Consumers Energy for a $154 million dollar rate increase in March,” McKinney said. “DTE has requested more than a billion dollars in rate increases in the last five years, and both companies give millions to state lawmakers to maintain undue influence and keep real change from taking place. All of this needs to change, enough is enough, our constituents deserve better,”
Michigan already ranks one of the most-expensive states in the nation for electricity costs, coming in with the 13th-highest retail price for electricity in the country. This is according to a December report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which looked at the average retail price of electricity for the residential sector.
Other reports have also found that the electrical grid in the state also struggles with frequent and prolonged outages.
By law, utility companies can only file requests for rate increases every 12 months and the cases take an average of ten months for the MPSC to rule on.
Elyse Apel is a reporter for The Center Square covering Colorado and Michigan. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Elyse’s writing has been published in a wide variety of national publications from the Washington Examiner to The American Spectator and The Daily Wire.
