LANSING – Today, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved yet another electric rate hike for Consumers Energy, allowing the company to collect an additional $153,809,000 in revenue from its ratepayers. While the approved rate hike is 53% lower than Consumers Energy’s original request for a combined $325 million rate hike, due in part to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s continued advocacy on behalf of ratepayers, it comes on the heels of a previous rate hike approved by the MPSC just 12 months ago. Attorney General Dana Nessel intervenes in all rate hike cases before the MPSC to advocate for Michigan’s ratepaying utility customers.

“Only 12 months since their last rate hike was approved, Consumers Energy customers are facing yet another rate hike in what has become a never-ending cycle,” Nessel said. “Consumers Energy and DTE keep coming back to the trough, and over and over again Michiganders are forced to pay higher and higher bills just to keep the lights on. I applaud my team’s efforts in blunting the impact of this increase on ratepayers’ bills, but yet again electric rates are rising for Consumers Energy’s customers. Fighting these constant rate hikes is unending, year-round work in my office, and we’ll continue to stand on guard for Michigan utility customers.”

Consumers Energy filed this rate increase case in May of 2024, seeking permission to extract from its ratepaying customers $303 million more than would be collected at their current electric rates. Consumers Energy also sought to capture from rate-paying customers an additional $22 million through a separate 12-month customer surcharge beginning in March of 2025. A $325 million rate hike would have raised electricity rates by 8.2% for residential customers. In her filed testimony, the Attorney General argued that Consumers should receive no more than $82.9 million, or approximately a 1.8% increase. The MPSC’s approved rate represents a 2.8% rate increase for residential customers.

In January, the MPSC approved DTE’s latest rate hike, which will allow the utility corporation to bill electric customers an additional $217 million annually, though the efforts of Attorney General Nessel were successful in slashing that rate hike in half. DTE has already indicated to the MPSC they intend to file their next electric rate hike request next month.

By law, utility companies can only file requests for rate increases every 12 months. Consumers Energy filed this rate increase request a mere 91 days after their last electric rate hike was approved by the commission last year. In addition to DTE’s filed notice for their upcoming electric rate hike request (U-21860), Consumers Energy has an open natural gas rate hike request before the commission as well (U-21806).

The Attorney General has saved Michigan consumers nearly $3.7 billion by intervening in utility cases before the MPSC. Consumers Energy sells electricity to approximately 1.9 million customers throughout Michigan and natural gas to 1.8 million customers across the state.