On Friday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed testimony in Consumers Energy’s latest electric rate hike case, recommending a reduction of over 70% and millions in potential savings for ratepayers across the State. Consumers Energy filed its request with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) in May seeking to hike rates 6.5% on average with an increase of 8.2% on residential customers and raise more than $300 million in revenue for the corporation. This request follows a $92 million electric rate hike approved by the MPSC only six months ago, in March of this year.
Consumers Energy also seeks to capture from rate-paying customers an additional $21.8 million through a separate 12-month customer surcharge for certain deferred costs beginning in March of 2025.
Attorney General Nessel filed testimony imploring the MPSC to slash the allowed rate hike to less than 2% for customers, and to allow the energy corporation and its shareholders to raise only an additional $82.9 million from the bills of Michigan customers. The reductions the Attorney General advocates amount to a more than 70% cut to the corporation’s current request.
“My office carefully scrutinizes every rate hike before the Michigan Public Service Commission because consumer protection remains one of my top priorities,” Nessel said. “Michigan utility customers are already subjected to some of the nation’s highest electric rates, lowest standards of reliability and service, and utility partners who only ever ask for more and more from increasingly dissatisfied customers. As we have seen time and again, these utilities prioritize corporate profits over customer needs and improvements. This case is no exception. Our review reveals that 70% of Consumers Energy’s requested rate increase is excessive and unjustified.”
Consumers Energy Company is a subsidiary of CMS Energy, headquartered in Jackson and billing approximately 1.9 million electric customers across Michigan’s lower peninsula. Despite years of rate increases, including for capital expenditures, the results of the recent third-party audit commissioned by the MPSC demonstrates that decades of neglect and imprudent investment strategies by both Consumers Energy and DTE Energy have resulted in below average outage and reliability performance from the two leading utility businesses in the State.
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