LANSING – Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a notice of intervention this week in Consumers Energy Company’s latest electric rate case (U-21585) before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), filed on May 31, 2024. Consumers Energy seeks a rate hike of approximately $303 million annually which, if approved, would take effect in March of 2025. Only three months ago, the MPSC approved a $92 million electric rate hike for Consumers, which took effect this March.

Consumers Energy also seeks to recover an additional $21.8 million in deferred distribution expenditures through a separate 12-month customer surcharge beginning in March 2025. If the annual rate increase is approved, it would increase rates overall by 6.5% and if the separate surcharge is also approved, the total rate increase would be 7% for the period March 2025 through February 2026.

“Our intervention in these cases is vital to ensuring corporate utilities aren’t successful in their efforts to stuff unjustifiable costs into their rate hike requests,” said Nessel.  “There are standards concerning what costs Consumers Energy, DTE, and our other utility companies are allowed to pile onto their customers’ bills in their rates and other charges. My office is working diligently to hold the utilities accountable and keep unjustified expenses off the monthly bills of ratepayers.”

Attorney General Nessel is intervening in this rate case as she does in all utility rates cases before the Commission. The Department of Attorney General’s staff, along with its experts, will carefully scrutinize the filing to ensure customers do not pay any costs that are not associated with a commensurate, quantifiable benefit to them. In Consumers Energy’s last electric rate case, the company originally sought a rate hike of $216 million, but the Commission only approved a $92 million rate increase based on the arguments made by the Attorney General and other parties. In that case, the Attorney General’s experts successfully argued that Consumers Energy’s requested rate hike was excessive and not supported on the record. The Attorney General argued Consumers’ projections and expenses were unreasonable and did not provide commensurate customer benefit. The MPSC slashed Consumers’ rate hike request by nearly 60%.

The Attorney General is currently seeking a similar 58% reduction in DTE’s latest requested gas rate hike, finding the utility included in their request unsubstantiated costs, including an attempt to pass on to customers the expenses of executive corporate jet travel. In its own ongoing gas rate case, Consumers Energy filed an application seeking a 37% increase in its residential monthly charge alongside a $136 million rate hike, and the Attorney General has argued that more than 96% of this requested sum is unjustified.

“We’re winning significant cuts to proposed bill increases when we make our case before the Commission,” Nessel added. “We will continue putting resources into scouring these rate hike requests to defend Michigan bill-payers in every rate case before the MPSC.”

Consumers Energy’s latest rate hike request is in large part predicated on implementing its $7 billion Five-Year Distribution Plan that the Attorney General previously criticized as lacking in affordability, reliability, and accountability.

Consumers Energy Company is a subsidiary of CMS Energy, headquartered in Jackson and billing approximately 1.9 million electric customers. Consumers Energy additionally sells natural gas to 1.8 million customers, which is used primarily to heat homes and businesses during the winter as well as for other uses.

Since taking office, Attorney General Nessel has helped save Michigan ratepayers more than $3 billion.

“After major storms, bad actors take advantage of vulnerable residents desperate to repair damage to their homes and clean up debris,” Nessel said. “My office will not tolerate businesses that exploit consumers with deceptive tactics and will continue to investigate and pursue predatory companies to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Attorney General advises consumers impacted by storm damage to request a written quote or estimate for any work, even if they expect their insurance to cover the costs. Nessel also urges consumers to read all the fine print of any contract they intend to sign. If consumers are signing an electronic contract and can not read the small text of the agreement on the screen, they should request a printed copy.

To file a complaint with the Attorney General, or get additional information, contact:

Consumer Protection Team
P.O. Box 30213
Lansing, MI 48909
517-335-7599
Fax: 517-241-3771
Toll-free: 877-765-8388
Online complaint form

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is reissuing her consumer alert about payment apps and scams following reports nationwide of scammers targeting Venmo users. The scam involves a scammer “accidentally” sending money to consumers on the peer-to-peer (P2P) service and then asking for the money back.

The Attorney General advises consumers to never send back the money. Instead, they should contact the P2P service about the error. Scammers often use stolen funds that Venmo and other P2P services will eventually flag as fraudulent. A common version of this happens when a scammer uses a stolen credit card number to deposit the funds into a consumer’s P2P account.  Eventually, the real holder of the credit card may succeed in getting that payment reversed as a fraudulent charge. This means the innocent consumer who returns the supposedly accidental deposit to the fraudster will experience a debit from the credit card company, and any transferred funds will come from the consumer’s P2P account balance.

“Scammers are constantly evolving their tactics to exploit consumers,” Nessel said. “Remember, it’s always best to use an extra degree of caution with any transaction involving someone you do not know. If you believe you have been a victim of a scam, please do not hesitate to reach out to my department.”

P2P scams can take many other forms, including:

• Scammers impersonating a consumer’s bank to alert them about “suspicious activity” on their account and direct them to send money to themselves or “the bank’s address” to reverse a transaction or to verify the account is not frozen.
• Fraudsters reaching out to consumers claiming to represent a fraud department or merchant and ask them to confirm information such as their bank account username and password, credit card or debit card data, or Social Security numbers.
• Scammers posing as a legitimate business requesting a P2P payment for a product or service.
• Scammers connecting a stolen credit card to a payment app then look for people selling big ticket items (such as a computer, tablet, or car) online. The scammers will offer to pay for the product using the app. Once the seller accepts the payment and sends the item, they’ll soon discover that the payment sent is not to a legitimate buyer, and the money collected is removed from their account. The seller is then without either the item or the money.
• Fraudsters sending spoofed emails warning that an account is about to be suspended and that the account holder must enter their password on a spoofed webpage.

The Attorney General reminds consumers to never share their personal information, treat P2P payments like cash, and not pay for products until they receive them. Victims of a scam involving P2P payment apps can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.  To file a complaint with the Attorney General, or get additional information, contact:

Consumer Protection Team
P.O. Box 30213
Lansing, MI 48909
517-335-7599
Fax: 517-241-3771
Toll-free: 877-765-8388
Online complaint form