Tlaib introduces the Make DTE Pay Act targeting rate hikes, Clean Air Act violations

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib talks the Make DTE Pay Act

Democrat US Rep Rashida Tlaib discusses the DTE Pay Act, targeting rate hikes and Clean Air Act violations.

FOX 2 - Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) has launched the Make DTE Pay Act, targeting rate hikes and pollution by the utility provider.

The backstory:

Tlaib's legislation would increase monetary penalties on utilities like DTE Energy when they seek customer rate increases within the two years preceding or following Clean Air Act violations.

The Democrat US Representative has had a history of criticizing DTE, including when more than a quarter of a million customers lost power in a 2022 storm and leading protests and town halls calling out rate hikes in 2023.

The Make DTE Pay Act would amend the Clean Air Act to increase penalties against investor-owned utilities that sought or seek customer rate increases within the two-year period preceding or following an assessment of a Clean Air Act financial penalty.

For each rate increase, the underlying Clean Air Act penalty would be increased by an amount equal to the original penalty assessment.

"Corporate polluters like DTE treat violating our environmental protection laws as the cost of doing business," she said in a statement. "It’s so insulting to our families that DTE wants to jack up their bills year after year while poisoning the air they breathe.

"We need to change the math and make polluting our communities as bad for business as it is for our health. The Make DTE Pay Act stands up for our families by forcing DTE and other dirty utilities to make a choice: follow the Clean Air Act or pay huge financial penalties when they try to hike customer rates."

On February 17, 2026, U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain found DTE liable for Clean Air Act violations against communities in Detroit and Downriver, ordering it to pay $100 million in fines.

Tlaib's office said DTE received a $242.4 million electric rate increase, and last week DTE again filed for an additional $474.3 million electric rate increase. It previously received a $217 million electric rate increase in January 2025.

"Our office spent years in court to get DTE a $100 million Clean Air Act penalty for poisoning residents of Detroit and River Rouge," said Andrew Bashi, Staff Attorney at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. "It was a hard-fought win, and it sounds like a huge sum until you realize that DTE saved $70 million by breaking the law in the first place. This bill gets us one step closer to a world where following the law is more cost effective than breaking it. That’s essential, because money is the only language investor-owned utilities like DTE speak."

DTE Energy's Jill Wilmot released a response explaining the reasons behind price changes.

"We know that any increase in bills matters for our customers and we’re committed to delivering clear value to them in return – through improved reliability, cleaner energy and continued efforts to keep bills as low as possible and beneath the national and regional averages," the statement said. "Our recent investments in the electric system resulted in 2025 being the most reliable year in nearly two decades. Our investments are working, and we must continue to invest to deliver the service our customers demand and deserve."