Expand / Collapse search
☰

DTE credit: How to collect your $42 after power outage

By FOX 2 Staff
Severe Weather
Published September 8, 2026 12:46 PM EDT
Published September 8, 2026 12:46 PM EDT
article

The Brief

    • SE Michigan suffered massive power outages from a historic round of storms last week.
    • DTE customers have a way of claiming a $42 credit following the outage. 
    • One stipulation is, if the outage lasted 48 hours or more and impacted between 1% and 10% of customers. 

FOX 2 - Severe storms – including a historic tornado – battered Metro Detroit leaving a trail of downed trees among the wreckage from late last week.

Big picture view:

Storms impacted more than 300,000 DTE Energy customers who were left in the dark for days. The last of those waiting for power restoration got it on Labor Day - but it still meant having to throw out wasted food.

The utility offers a bill credit for extended outages. Prior to October of 2025, DTE offered a bill credit of $40. Since, then the amount has gone up – but not by much – to $42.

Customers who lost power under certain conditions may qualify. Customers that experienced an extended outage will be eligible for the credit if the following took place:

  • A power outage of more than 16 hours due to an event that knocks out power for less than 1% of DTE electric customers
  • A power outage of more than 48 hours due to an event that knocks out power for more than 1% but less than 10% of customers
  • A power outage of more than 96 hours due to an event that knocked out more than 10% of DTE electric customers.

DTE outage bill credit

What you can do:

Customers that qualify will not need to submit a request. Instead, the credit will be provided automatically within 1–2 billing cycles.

If your outage qualifies, customers will receive an additional credit amount for every 24 hours the outage continues. 

To count as a power outage, it must consists of full or partial loss of service for longer than five minutes.

Frequent Outage:

  • Six power outages during a 12-month period. Once a credit has been applied, the count of outages resets to zero.

Your bill credit eligibility status will be determined automatically, and you will not need to submit a request.

If eligible, a credit will be posted to your account within 1-2 billing cycles or up to 90 days following your outage. 

For paper bills, refer to the first page of the bill under the "Summary of Charges" section, or for electronic bills refer to the "Bill Summary" section.

For more info, view the MPSC Power Outage Credit guide here.

Property Loss or Damage

DTE says it is not responsible for the following and that claims will not be approved for any of the following circumstances:

  • You are not the customer of record or the owner of the damaged property.
  • Damages or losses resulting from storms or weather-related conditions.
  • Loss or damages including hotel/lodging, food loss, damaged appliances due to voltage surges, loss of wages/revenue or tree trim debris removal expenses.
  • Damages or losses due to equipment failure beyond our reasonable control.
  • Damages or losses caused by a third party or animal interference. 

If you believe DTE caused damage to your property, CLICK HERE for the enclosed damage claim form. 

For more information: Go here for more details about the DTE damages and reliability credit.

The Source: Information in this story is from DTE Energy. 

Severe WeatherMichigan