WattWatch/All Michigan utilities
Investor-owned utility
DTE Electric Company
DTE Electric rates rose 25% since 2019 — the average bill went from $101 to $123 a month.
Computed as revenue ÷ sales from DTE Electric’s own EIA-861 filings, 2019–2024. Not adjusted for inflation. See where that ranks.
The Michigan Public Service Commission sets your rates
Rate changes go through a public docket. Filings, hearing dates, and comment deadlines are matters of public record, and you can file a comment on them.
Dates you could act on
No open comment period right now. The most recent one closed August 20, 2026 (U-22124).
When DTE Electric files a rate case, the Commission issues a notice of hearing that sets three dates: a deadline to petition to intervene, a prehearing conference, and a period for written comments that any customer can file without becoming a party. Michigan law gives the Commission ten months from filing to decide (MCL 460.6a), so a case filed today is decided within the year.
DTE Electric has had a general rate case decided in 2 of the last 2 years — most recently July 16, 2026. Another one is a matter of when, not whether.
We check the MPSC docket system every night. Rather than watching this page, have the next deadline emailed to you.
What is still undecided
These cases are open before the Commission — some are DTE Electric’s own requests, others the Commission opened on its own motion. Undecided is the only window in which a comment from you counts for anything, so these are the ones worth watching.
- Requested$474.3M
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to raise its electric rates and change its rate schedules, seeking roughly $474.3 million with new rates proposed to start as early as March 1, 2027, largely tied to grid reliability, generation, and storage investments. A prehearing is set for May 27, 2026 by video/teleconference, and anyone wanting to become a party must file a petition to intervene by May 19, 2026. Customers can also send a written comment referencing Case No. U-22046 to the Commission by email or mail, or attend the hearing to make a statement.
- Requested$147M
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve new depreciation rates, using a proposed rate of 4.58% that would raise its annual depreciation expense by $147 million; the new rates would take effect with the final order in DTE's next general rate case. A prehearing is set for Monday, January 20, 2026 at 10:00 AM by video/teleconference, and anyone wishing to become a party must file a petition to intervene by January 13, 2026. Customers can also send written comments referencing Case No. U-21772 to the Commission by email or mail.
- U-21595notice PDFRequested$109.2M
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve how it reconciled its 2025 power supply costs, and to carry an under-recovery of $109,166,402 forward as the starting balance for its 2026 power supply cost reconciliation. A pre-hearing is set for May 7, 2026 at 9:00 AM by video/teleconference, and any interested person may take part. Customers can also send a written comment referencing Case No. U-21595 by email or mail, or speak at the hearing by filing an appearance.
- U-22124notice PDFRequested$0.5M
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to review and settle up its 2025 Demand Response program costs, and to record a $461,021 revenue requirement difference as a regulatory liability to be handled in its next general rate case over up to five years. A prehearing is set for August 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM by video/teleconference, and anyone interested may take part. Customers may also send a written comment referencing Case No. U-22124 to the Commission, or file a petition to intervene by August 13, 2026.
This docket is a Commission-opened proceeding to study how to make Michigan's electric grid more reliable and able to withstand severe storms. The orders direct Commission Staff and utilities to hold technical conferences and workshops, collect comments, file reports, and take steps on topics such as critical facility resilience, undergrounding of power lines, and coordination with local governments and emergency responders. No rates, revenue amounts, or bill changes were set or approved in these orders, so there is no direct effect on a residential bill from this case.
This order keeps an information-gathering docket open where Michigan's regulated electric, gas, and steam utilities report twice a year on the federal funding they are seeking for infrastructure projects. The Commission summarized which federal programs have been paused or cancelled and which new ones are available, and asked utilities and transmission companies to keep filing updates. No rates or charges were set or changed, so there is no direct effect on a residential bill from this order.
This is an ongoing Commission-initiated proceeding, not a rate case. The Commission created a workgroup to develop measures of electric reliability and distribution performance and to design financial rewards and penalties tied to how utilities perform. In these orders the Commission collected public comments, adopted a performance mechanism for Consumers Energy and DTE Electric with a $10 million yearly cap on the total reward or penalty for 2026, and requested further comments on a 'reliability-plus' straw proposal. No retail rates or bill amounts were set in these orders, so there is no direct change to a residential bill from them; any financial effect would be handled later in separate utility-specific or rate proceedings.
This docket was opened so that electric utilities can file transportation electrification plans describing their electric-vehicle-related plans and investments. In the December 21, 2023 order, the Commission directed DTE Electric to file its plan in this docket. In the July 10, 2025 order, the Commission granted temporary waivers from the plan filing requirement to three small utilities: Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation, Northern States Power Company, and Alpena Power Company. The Commission stated these waivers do not change rates or rate schedules, so there is no effect on residential bills.
- U-22076notice PDF
This is an administrative order that assigns case numbers for upcoming 2027 and 2027-2028 power supply cost recovery, gas cost recovery, and steam supply cost recovery plan and reconciliation filings. It directs each listed electric, gas, and steam utility to file those applications under the assigned numbers. No rates, costs, or bill amounts were decided, so there is no effect on residential bills from this order.
The Commission opened its own investigation into how Consumers Energy, DTE Electric, and Indiana Michigan Power responded to the July 3, 2026 severe storms that left hundreds of thousands of customers without power during a stretch of extreme heat. Each utility must file a detailed report by August 27, 2026 covering storm preparation, crew deployment, downed-wire handling, and the accuracy of its restoration time estimates, along with a plan for improvements. This order does not change rates or bills for residential customers.
- U-22061notice PDF
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to change its Rate D11 and add a new provision for very large electricity users, such as customers needing more than 100 MW, including a minimum monthly billing amount, administrative fees, a termination fee, and collateral requirements. The Commission has not decided the case; a prehearing is set for April 28, 2026 by video/teleconference. Customers can attend that hearing, file a written comment referencing Case No. U-22061, or file a petition to intervene by April 21, 2026.
These documents open Alpena Power Company's annual review of its renewable energy plan costs for the 12 months ending December 31, 2025. The Commission set the case docket and filing deadlines, and a notice of hearing scheduled a prehearing conference for May 12, 2026. Alpena Power states it is not asking for any change in the amount it collects from customers in this review, so no residential bill change is proposed in these filings. No decision on the reconciliation has been made yet.
- U-21875notice PDF
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve its plan for recovering power supply (fuel and purchased power) costs for 2026, including a maximum monthly charge of 18.77 mills per kilowatt-hour on customer bills from January 1 through December 31, 2026. A prehearing is set for November 21, 2025 by video/teleconference, and anyone interested may attend. Customers can also send a written comment referencing Case No. U-21875, or file a petition to intervene as a formal party by November 14, 2025.
- U-22011notice PDF
DTE Electric and DTE Gas have asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve the annual reconciliation of their 2025 Energy Waste Reduction programs, including performance incentives, related tariffs, and surcharges, and to carry forward stated under-recovery balances ($52.5 million for DTE Electric and $5.0 million for DTE Gas) into 2026. A prehearing is set for August 5, 2026 at 10:30 AM by video/teleconference before an administrative law judge. Customers may attend and make a statement, send a written comment referencing Case No. U-22011, or file a petition to intervene by July 29, 2026.
- U-22027notice PDF
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to review and approve its 2025 renewable energy costs and revenues, and to keep its existing rates and renewable energy surcharges in place. A prehearing is set for August 11, 2026, by video or teleconference, and customers may attend, ask to make a statement, or send written comments referencing Case No. U-22027. Anyone who wants to become a formal party must file a petition to intervene by August 4, 2026, and free copies of the application are available from DTE Electric or on the Commission's website.
- U-22058notice PDF
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve two special contracts with Google LLC covering electricity supply and clean capacity, along with related accounting treatment. A prehearing conference is scheduled for April 15, 2026 by video/teleconference, and petitions to intervene are due April 9, 2026. Customers may send written comments to the Commission referencing Case No. U-22058, or attend the hearing to make a statement of position.
These documents concern Alpena Power Company's energy waste reduction (EWR) program filings. The January 15, 2026 order directs the listed utilities, including Alpena Power, to file their EWR plan reconciliations and annual reports in specified dockets by set deadlines. A later notice schedules a June 11, 2026 prehearing on Alpena Power's May 1, 2026 application to reconcile its 2025 EWR plan, including a request to roll a 2025 under-recovery of $37,153 into the 2026 plan year. No new retail rates or revenue requirement were set in these documents, so there is no stated change to a residential bill at this stage.
- Requested$-0.1M
DTE Electric filed an application on March 27, 2026 asking the Commission to approve its annual reconciliation of the Electric Infrastructure Recovery Mechanism for 2025, which the company says resulted in a $0.09M over-recovery it proposes to return to customers through a regulatory liability amortized in a future rate case. A prehearing is set for May 14, 2026 by video/teleconference. Customers may attend that hearing to make a statement, submit a written comment referencing Case No. U-22067, or file a petition to intervene by May 7, 2026.
What changed your bill
About $5.03 a month — 4.1% applied to this utility’s average residential bill of $123 in 2024. Computed here, not stated in the order.
Requested$574.1MApproved$242.4MResidential4.1%DTE Electric asked the Commission for permission to collect about $574.1 million more per year from its customers. In its February 19, 2026 order the Commission approved an increase of $242,406,000 per year, of which $124,713,000 (about 4.1 percent) comes from residential rate schedules. The order also modified and extended DTE Electric's infrastructure recovery mechanism, including $200 million of pole top maintenance and modernization spending in 2026. On July 16, 2026, the Commission denied the Michigan Environmental Council's request to rehear the February order, so the approved amounts stand.
- Requested$600.5MApproved$600.5M
The Commission approved DTE Electric's request to issue securitization bonds covering up to $600.5 million of costs, made up of $236.7 million for retired Belle River coal handling assets, $16.0 million related to Midwest Energy Resources Company, $340.2 million of remaining tree trimming costs, and $7.5 million of issuance costs, plus about $700,000 per year of ongoing costs. Customers will see two new per-kilowatt-hour securitization charges on their bills, one tied to power supply costs collected over about 14 years and one tied to tree trimming costs collected over about 5 years, beginning with the first billing cycle after the bonds are sold. Bill credits will also be applied until the same costs are taken out of base rates in DTE Electric's next general rate case. The Commission found the securitization financing costs less than conventional financing by at least $62.4 million in present-value terms.
Everything else on the docket (10)
Procedural orders, reconciliations, and cases where no approved figure could be sourced. Kept for completeness — none of these carries a number we can tie to your bill.
The Commission approved DTE Electric's workplan describing five general areas where the company may later propose small test programs (pilots) for faster Commission review. The workplan itself does not create any pilot program; DTE must still file separate applications for individual pilots in this docket. The Commission specifically noted that approving the workplan does not change any rates or rate schedules and does not increase the cost of service, so residential bills are not affected by this order.
In this docket the Commission approved DTE Electric's special contract with Ford Motor Company under DTE's voluntary MIGreenPower program, along with two solar projects built to serve that contract: the Cold Creek Solar Park (about 100 megawatts, in Branch County) and the Deckerville Solar Park (about 200 megawatts, in Sanilac County), plus the related construction and solar module supply agreements. The Commission stated that these approvals do not change rates or rate schedules and do not increase the cost of service to customers. Final project costs will be reviewed for reasonableness and prudence in later renewable energy reconciliation proceedings. There is no change to a typical residential bill from these orders.
The Commission approved DTE Electric's update to the Emergency Electrical Procedures in its rate book, as modified. Very large new customers — those starting service after October 1, 2025 with at least 500 megawatts of capacity, or served under the Large Load Provision of Rate Schedule D11 — will have their firm load shed before other customers when doing so can prevent cutting other customers' power. The Commission declined to adopt one of DTE's two proposed changes as unnecessary. The order does not change rates and has no effect on residential bills.
The Commission approved DTE Electric's two energy storage tolling agreements, covering a 100 MW project in Calhoun County and a 200 MW project, each for a 15-year term. DTE stated the agreements will be fully paid for by Green Chile Ventures LLC under a previously approved special contract, so they do not change rates or cost of service for other customers. The order does not set retail rates, and cost recovery related to the storage agreement is to be addressed in future rate cases. There is no change to a typical residential bill from this order.
A DTE Electric customer filed a complaint saying the company had not resolved repeated disruptions to his grid-connected rooftop solar system. He later withdrew the complaint, saying he planned to address the technical issue by adding battery storage through DTE Electric's standard interconnection modification process. The Commission dismissed the complaint without prejudice, meaning it can be filed again later. This order does not change electric rates or residential bills.
This order reviews DTE Electric's spending under its electric investment recovery mechanism for the 13 months ending December 31, 2024, comparing what the company planned to spend on distribution projects with what it actually spent. The Commission approved the reconciliation and rejected a request by the Attorney General and other intervenors to disallow $13.113 million tied to certain recloser installations. DTE Electric collected $120,000 more than it spent, and that amount will be recorded as a regulatory liability and returned to customers through a future general rate case rather than as an immediate bill change. The order does not set new retail rates, so there is no immediate change to a residential monthly bill.
The Commission approved requests from DTE Electric and Consumers Energy to change the wording of tariffs covering business and industrial customers who agree to reduce electricity use when asked. The changes address how those customers demonstrate their ability to cut demand, following new testing rules from the regional grid operator, MISO. The Commission stated the changes do not raise rates or the cost of service, so residential bills are not affected.
This case was a complaint by a business customer, Vassar Acquisitions LLC, against DTE Electric over the electric service arrangements, line extension costs, and the minimum demand charges under DTE's D11 rate at its Vassar, Michigan property. The Commission dismissed the complaint with prejudice, finding Vassar did not prove its claims, and also denied Vassar's pending appeal request as moot. The Commission directed DTE Electric to address subtransmission system voltage violations and its line extension cost policy in its next electric rate case filing. The order does not change retail rates and has no direct effect on residential bills.
The Commission approved a settlement agreement setting up a performance-based ratemaking mechanism for DTE Electric, which ties money rewards or penalties to seven reliability measures such as outage duration, storm restoration times, and repeat outages. Under the agreement, the total reward DTE Electric can earn and the total penalty it can incur are each capped at $10 million per year, beginning with 2026 performance, and the company must meet all existing service quality and reliability standards to earn any reward. In a later order, the Commission denied a request to rehear that approval. This order does not set retail rates or a revenue requirement, so it states no specific change to a residential monthly bill.
The Commission approved DTE Electric's review of its renewable energy plan costs and revenues for the 12 months ending December 31, 2024, including the parts of the application no party disputed. It also approved the 2025 transfer price schedule prepared by Commission Staff and left the questions about how transfer prices and incentive renewable energy credits are calculated to be decided in a separate case (U-15800). DTE Electric's existing renewable energy surcharges and rates stay as they are, so this order does not change a residential customer's monthly bill.
Every figure is quoted from the order it came from — hover a number to see the exact sentence and page. Figures without a quote in the source are not shown at all. Cases marked checked have had their figures verified against the order PDF by a person; the rest are machine-read and not yet reviewed.
Large loads in this territory
6 live data center projects name DTE Electric as their serving utility
Together they have disclosed 2.58 GW of demand. 1.38 GW of that sits under a contract the Commission has already approved. A further 3 have been withdrawn or refused. They are listed below for the record and excluded from that total.
- Stargate MichiganSaline Township · 1,383 MWUnder construction
- Project CannoliVan Buren Township · 1,000 MWApproved
- Metrobloks SouthfieldSouthfield · 100 MWApproved
- Project FlexLyon TownshipApplication submitted
- University of Michigan / Los Alamos research facilityYpsilanti Township, with a second site proposed in Superior TownshipPre-application
- Raeden Gibraltar siteGibraltar · 100 MWPaused or under moratorium
- Prologis Washington Township siteWashington Township · 760 MWWithdrawn or rejected
- Thor Equities Augusta Township siteAugusta Township · 100 MWWithdrawn or rejected
- Project IronwoodDundee and Milan TownshipsWithdrawn or rejected
The full Michigan tracker, with what regulators have approved →
Large load watch
Who pays for the data centers
A single hyperscale data center can ask for more power than a small city. The question in front of the Commission is not whether they get it — it is what they have to commit to in order to get it, and who absorbs the cost of the poles, wires, and generation built for them if the project shrinks or never arrives.
In U-22061, DTE Electric asked to rewrite its Rate D11 and add a provision for customers taking more than 100 MW: a minimum monthly bill regardless of how much power is actually used, administrative fees, a fee for walking away, and collateral up front. Those terms are the difference between a data center carrying its own risk and residential customers carrying it.
DTE Electric has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission to change its Rate D11 and add a new provision for very large electricity users, such as customers needing more than 100 MW, including a minimum monthly billing amount, administrative fees, a termination fee, and collateral requirements. The Commission has not decided the case; a prehearing is set for April 28, 2026 by video/teleconference. Customers can attend that hearing, file a written comment referencing Case No. U-22061, or file a petition to intervene by April 21, 2026.
The scheduled dates in this case have passed — the last was May 5, 2026. The case remains open, and an order can issue at any time. This is the one worth having emailed to you.