Great Lakes Wire

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed testimony before the Michigan Public Service Commission in response to Consumer’s Energy Company’s rate increase request, filed May 1st, that seeks a $216 million increase for its electrical service. If approved by the Commission, the Company’s request will result in a rate increase to the average residential customer of 3.3% and an overall rate increase of 4.8% for all the utilities' 1.9 million electrical customers throughout the state. 

The Attorney General’s testimony recommends that the proposed increase be reduced to only $58.4 million. If adopted by the Commission, the rate increase would be limited to approximately 1% for residential customers as well as significantly reduced for Consumers Energy’s small commercial and industrial customers.

"I will continue to advocate for the pocketbooks of Michigan utility customers and ensure their interests are represented in the unending cycle of rate increase requests made of the commission,” said Nessel. “As has consistently been the case, scrutiny by my office and experts finds our utility companies request rate hikes well beyond their needs. We advocate in these cases to slash requested rate hikes and to focus utility revenues into consumer priorities targeting outage reduction and electrical reliability.”

Following responses filed by various parties before the Commission Tuesday, Consumers Energy will file its rebuttal testimony on September 19, 2023. A hearing before the Commission is set to begin on October 9 and a final order from the Commission is expected by February 1st of next year.

AG Nessel has helped save utility customers over $2.4 billion since taking office.

Original source can be found here.