September 21st, 2021

In the wake of severe storms throughout August that left more than 10% of Michiganders without power, AG Nessel has launched a public inquiry regarding DTE Energy and Consumers Energy’s response. As part of the response to the failure of Michigan’s major utilities, AG Nessel published an online Power Outages Feedback form for individuals to report their power outages and document restoration time, and she held a listening tour to hear from impacted individuals directly. The effort to collect information from the public is intended to help better understand the full scope of the power outages and inform a more detailed inquiry. 

Currently, Michiganders pay some of the highest electricity rates in the nation, but receive some of the worst service. As companies like DTE, have raised electricity rates to the tune of $775 million over five years with little improvements to service, Michiganders experienced the most amount of minutes out-of-power on average annually when compared to the Great Lakes region. Michigan utilities also have the second-worst restoration time per outage in the nation, even on days without major storm events. Michigan’s major utilities’ failure to provide reliable, affordable service is unacceptable, and we applaud AG Nessel in her efforts to fight for the interests of consumers statewide.