Great Lakes Wire

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed a notice of intervention in Consumers Energy Company's latest electric rate case (U-21870). The full application was submitted to the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), following the company's March announcement of their intention to increase electric rates. Consumers Energy is seeking an annual rate hike of approximately $436 million, which would take effect in May 2026 if approved. This request marks the largest proposed during Nessel's tenure and potentially the largest in decades.

The proposed increase comes just two months after MPSC approved a $154 million rate hike for Consumers Energy, which affected customers' bills starting April 4, 2025. In addition to this new proposed annual rate hike, Consumers Energy plans to recover an additional $24 million in deferred distribution costs through a separate 12-month surcharge. The overall rates could rise by 9.2%, with household rates increasing by 13.3%.

"Before Consumers Energy, or anyone else for that matter, can even begin to measure any affordability or reliability improvements from their last rate hike, the company is back in business asking to bill their customers an additional $400 million annually," Nessel stated. "In a troubling continuation of the patterns we see before the MPSC from both Consumers Energy and DTE, this is at least among the largest rate hikes Consumers has ever requested, if not the largest itself."

Nessel continued: "When my office alerted the public to Consumers’ announcement of this intended rate hike two months ago, the utility tried to tell their ratepayers we were wrong on the facts or misleading the people of this state. Instead, they’ve done exactly what we knew they would." She emphasized her office's commitment to scrutinizing this request thoroughly.

Attorney General Nessel intervenes routinely in major utility cases before MPSC. Her department will examine this filing closely to ensure customers are not charged costs without quantifiable benefits. Past requests have included questionable expenses like private jet travel for executives that did not benefit customers directly.

Currently open cases before MPSC include DTE’s latest electric rate hike request (U-21860) and another from Consumers Energy regarding natural gas rates (U-21806). Through such interventions, Attorney General Nessel claims her efforts have saved Michigan consumers over $3.7 billion.

Consumers Energy provides electricity services to about 1.9 million customers and natural gas services to around 1.8 million across Michigan.