LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced that she has filed testimony in DTE Energy’s rate hike case before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), arguing its nine percent increase is excessive and unnecessary.
According to an official press release, DTE has previously filed its rate increase request with the MPSC in July. The request includes an annual increase in revenues of $351 million, which would result in more than a nine percent rate increase for residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Nessel is arguing that DTE should reduce its request to $41 million and fairly distribute its costs so industrial customers are paying their fair share.
Under the Attorney General’s proposed cost distribution, residential customers would see an approximate 1.4 percent reduction in their current rates. Her testimony also includes recommendations for improving and expanding assistance programs for DTE’s low-income consumers.
“As the state’s chief consumer advocate on utility matters, I have a responsibility to ensure any rate increase is in the best interest of our state’s residential ratepayers. This one isn’t,” Nessel said. “A nine percent hike request when DTE already exceeds its return on equity year over year is simply unjustifiable and unsupportable. That is precisely why I am arguing to not only limit the company’s rate increase for all customers but to specifically decrease the current rates paid by residential customers by reallocating costs.”
The press release notes that since January,Nessel has saved Michigan consumers more than $350 million by intervening in utility cases before the MPSC.
DTE provides electricity to approximately 2.2 million customers in Southeast Michigan and natural gas to 1.3 million customers across the state.
