Attorney General Dana Nessel testifies against Consumers Energy rate hike request
FOX 2 - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed testimony asking a state regulatory board to reduce a Consumers Energy rate hike.
Dig deeper:
Consumers Energy is seeking to raise residential electric rates by 9.8 percent, amounting to $456 million annually.
Nessel last week filed testimony for the Michigan Public Service Commission, the three-person board appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The Michigan AG argued that the MPSC should approve less than half of Consumers Energy’s desired rake hike.
The Michigan Public Service Commission is comprised of Daniel Scripps, Katherin Peretick and Shaquila Myers and whose duties include approving, modifying or denying energy and gas rate increases.
Nessel claims Consumers Energy is seeking to increase its profit margin on capital investments to 10.25 percent, which would make it the highest return on equity in the state and likely one of the highest in the nation.
"The Attorney General filed testimony with the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan arguing the MPSC should limit Consumers Energy’s return on equity to just 9.20%, cut their requested rate hike by 53%, and consider affordability when reviewing this rate hike due to the increasing level of residential disconnections with the already existing high electric rates," said her office in a release.
Nessel also filed testimony with the Michigan Environmental Council, the Sierra Club, and the Natural Resources Defense Council on a number of other important issues for customers.
"Just like DTE, Consumers Energy inflates every rate request with unsupported and unjustifiable costs, to bill their customers at higher and higher gas and electric rates," Nessel said in a release. "It is likely the MPSC will simply split the difference between the well-reasoned numbers my office proposes and the obscene demand from the utility, as they’ve done many times.
"In this time of serious cost concerns in households all across Michigan, from groceries to gasoline, from the gas bill to the electric bill, it is remarkable our utilities continue to demand, and receive, rate hikes as large as we’ve ever seen."
Consumer's Energy serves $1.9M customers
Dig deeper:
Since 2020, the MPSC has approved nearly $800 million in rate hikes for Consumers Energy, which sells electricity to approximately 1.9 million customers throughout Michigan.
Nessel's office says Consumers Energy announced its pursuit of this rate hike on April 3, 2026, just seven days after the MPSC approved a $276 million rate hike for the company, and filed its application to hike rates by $456 million in June.
Watchdog groups have criticized the commission – whose members make more than $150,000 per year on six-year terms – as a little more than a rubber-stamp for utility increases by DTE Energy and Consumers over the years.
There are documented instances where the regulatory body has denied rate increases, including in 2022 when DTE electric rate increase was denied with $30.5 million of the original $388 million requested, allowed.
Nessel's office says it has saved Michigan consumers more than $4.6 billion by intervening in utility cases before the MPSC.
"Recent rate hike requests from DTE and Consumers Energy have included such inappropriate costs as private jet travel for staff, millions in executive incentive compensation tied to maximizing shareholder returns, and other unsupported expenditures that could not be demonstrated to be reasonable or prudent," said the Attorney General's office.
Other rate hike cases currently open before the MPSC include:
- Consumers Energy’s natural gas rate hike request (U-21981)
- DTE’s natural gas rate hike request (U-22241)
- DTE's electric rate hike request (U-22046)
- SEMCO Energy Gas Company’s natural gas rate hike request (U-22002)
- Upper Peninsula Power Company’s electric rate hike request (U-22032).
What you can do:
If you would like to contact the Michigan Public Service Commission:
Email Democratic Chair Daniel Scripps HERE
Email Independent Commissioner Katherine Peretick HERE
Email Democratic Commissioner Shaquila Myers HERE
Contact the Lansing Main Office at 517-284-8100 and submit a complaint HERE.
The Source: Information for this report is from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office, previously published reports and the state of Michigan website.