DETROIT (FOX 2) - The process for raising DTE Energy gas rates is paused while Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel examines the company's proposal.
DTE has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to approve a $266 million gas rate increase. This would increase rates for residential customers by about 10%.
The company argues that it hasn't raised gas rates since 2021. Critics of the increase say that the company does not effectively serve its customers.
As winter storm pounds Metro Detroit, 210K DTE customers left without power
More than 210,000 DTE customers were without power as of 9 p.m. Friday night while southeastern Michigan labored under a winter storm warning dumping as much as six inches to a foot of snow on the area.
Last month, the MPSC approved a $368,115,000 electricity rate increase, amounting to about an increase of $6.51, or 6.38%, for a typical residential customer.
Nessel's office has intervened in other rate increase cases to lower the approved hikes.
"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," Nessel said. "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."
DTE released a response to the rate increase request:
"DTE Gas has not requested a base rate increase since February of 2021, meaning that when the MPSC makes its decision as late as November 2024, DTE Gas customers will have not seen a base rate increase in about three years. DTE shares a mutual interest with the Michigan Public Service Commission in safely delivering energy to our natural gas customers, who reside in southeast, northern and mid-Michigan. This filing is just the first step in a ten-month process to determine how much the company can continue investing to replace more than 4,000 miles of aging, cast-iron pipes; manage double-digit inflation on the costs it pays for pipes, meters and other materials; and deliver on our promise of safe service while keeping energy affordable for customers."
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