LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – DTE has recently submitted a request to increase annual gas rates by nearly 10% for its customers for the new year.
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) granted the most recent gas rate increase in 2021, increasing customer rates by more than 3.5%.
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The new case, docket number U-21291, is before the MPSC with a $266 million annual increase in gas rates from DTE.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that she would be reviewing the request and arguing “against any increases in costs that are not reasonable.”
“We will approach DTE’s latest gas rate increase request as we have every one that has come before it, and work to ensure that natural gas costs are affordable for our state’s utility customers,” said AG Nessel. “This is yet another in a continuing string of multi-hundred-million-dollar cases brought by the company. My team and its experts will carefully examine DTE’s requested increases and strongly object to any that are unreasonable or are more aligned to shareholder benefits than ensuring ratepayers can keep their homes warm all winter. I remain concerned about the clear pattern of repeated rate increases that come before the Commission, one right after the last.”
The announcement comes after DTE announced that it would be offering buyouts to nearly 3,000 of its workers, mostly in the corporate and utility staff roles according to the company.
“We’re taking action to further focus on what matters most to our customers: providing increasingly safe, reliable and cleaner energy while keeping their bills affordable during this time of massive investment in transforming the way we generate and distribute energy,” said Diane Antishin, DTE’s vice president of Human Resources and chief diversity and inclusion officer in a statement.
The most recent electrical rate hike was granted by the MPSC in early December 2023, increasing customers’ bills by roughly 6.5%.
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