Michigan Public Service Commission approves $368M rate increase for DTE Electric customers
WXYZ — The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved a rate increase for DTE Electric Company customers in order to fund infrastructure investments aimed at improving reliability and accelerating the deployment of clean energy generation.
The approved rate increase of $368 million is a reduction from the $622 million that the company had initially requested in February. The new rates are set to take effect on December 15. According to the MPSC, a typical residential customer using 500 kilowatt hours of electricity per month will see an increase of $6.51, or 6.38%, on their monthly bill.
In response to the approved rate hike, DTE Energy stated that although the MPSC’s number is accurate, it does not take into account $300 million in cost savings that the company announced in November would be passed along to consumers. DTE Energy Vice Chairman and Group President Trevor Layer explained, “An electric bill is really made up of two parts, what I’ll call a base rate and then a fuel charge. We are lowering our fuel charge…effective today by $300 million.” DTE Energy claims that when factoring in the cost savings and the rate increase, the net impact to customers would be under $3 a month.
However, not all customers are pleased with the rate hike. Yolanda Bradford, a customer, expressed her dissatisfaction, stating, “I don’t feel that it’s justified. We had another power outage, and then just this August we had two power outages back to back.”
Layer defended the rate hike, emphasizing that the funds would be used to upgrade their systems and ultimately reduce power outages for customers. He stated, “I guarantee you our team is working every day to reduce power outages for every customer. And when you do have a power outage, we want it to be a shorter power outage than you may have had before.”
The rate hike was among a number of measures pertaining to DTE Electric that were passed by the MPSC. Other measures include approving financing measures and an investment recovery mechanism, as well as providing additional funding for DTE Electric’s pilot project to provide $1,500 rebates for income-eligible households for the purchase of electric vehicles. The commission also directed DTE to study tree trimming on residential service drops and develop a proposal for residential service-drop tree trimming in its next general rate case.
A final report on the distribution system audit is expected by late summer 2024.