LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is pushing back against a major utility company's request to increase their rates on natural gas.
DTE Gas Company requested a $266 million rate increase for customers in January of 2024 and now Nessel is saying that is too much.
“DTE files these rate hike requests fast and flimsy- we consistently find very little support for many of DTE’s claims,” said Nessel.
Nessel argues that the utility should get no more than a $112.2 million increase, which would equate to about a 4% increase in customers' bills.
Sebastian Coppola, an independent energy business consultant, testified Tuesday on behalf of Nessel at the Michigan Public Service Commission hearing regarding the rate hike.
Coppola recommended to the commission that DTE not raise the residential monthly customer service charge.
"I recommend that the Commission maintain the current residential monthly customer charge of $13.50. The monthly service charge was increased $1.25 in 2022 in the Company’s last rate case. The Company’s proposed monthly charge of $17.60 would result in an annual charge of $211, which would represent a large portion of the total annual gas bill for small households. However, if the Commission sees some merit in increasing the monthly service charge, in the interest of rate gradualism, I recommend that the Commission not increase the monthly charge by more than $1 to $14.50," Coppola testified.
DTE is asking for the rate increase based off of "unreasonable and, in some cases, plainly inappropriate requests," a release from the Michigan Department of Attorney General claims.
“When the shady details crammed into these filings emerge into the daylight, a lot of the proposed spending is questionable at best, and at times downright insulting to customers. Case in point, DTE Gas is asking the MPSC for permission to bill its customers for corporate jet travel by executives. These are the kind of expenditures they hope we don’t notice, that drive up ratepayer bills, and offer zero improvement to service or reliability. This is why we scrutinize these rate hike requests, to look out for the interests of the customers these corporations consistently try to squeeze for more," Nessel said.
The next hearing on the proposed rate hike is set for June 18.
DTE is also currently seeking to increase rates for their electric customers as well.
DTE shared this statement with 13 ON YOUR SIDE:
For 175 years, DTE Gas has provided safe, reliable and affordable natural gas to our customers across Michigan. Earlier this year, DTE Gas filed a rate request with the Michigan Public Service Commission – the first request in nearly three years – to receive approval of the company’s investment plan that will allow DTE Gas to continue to replace and modernize more than 4,000 miles of aging, cast-iron pipes that will prevent leaks and deliver on the company’s commitment of safe and reliable service while keeping energy affordable for customers.
Regarding travel expenses, a fraction of the costs for limited air travel for business-appropriate needs – including industry association meetings, which provide best practices and information sharing to run best-in-class energy companies, as well as meetings necessary to attract capital investment into Michigan – were included in the initial DTE Gas rate request.
The utility company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share for the first quarter of 2024. DTE reported operating earnings of $346 million for that quarter.
DTE provides natural gas to 1.3 million customers across the state and electricity to approximately 2.2 million customers in Southeast Michigan.
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