LANSING — On Wednesday, Progress Michigan voiced its firm opposition to the recent proposal by DTE Energy for its nearly half-billion dollar rate increase highlighted in Bridge Michigan. This comes at a time when Michigan already ranks among the top three states for both the frequency and duration of power outages, despite residents paying some of the highest rates in the nation.

“Michigan residents are fed up with paying some of the highest rates in the country while enduring some of the worst power outages,” said Sam Ingot, executive director of Progress Michigan. “We are urging the Public Service Commission to reject the proposed rate hikes, and for our elected officials in Lansing to demand greater accountability and act swiftly to pass laws protecting residents from corporate greed before the end of the year.”

According to polling from Progress Michigan in 2023:

• 87 percent of voters oppose allowing DTE Energy to increase their rates
• 84 percent demand lawmakers force DTE and Consumers Energy to invest more in maintaining and improving our power infrastructure
• 62 percent of voters support new regulations that would require these utilities to compensate for lost food, medicine and outage time

Michigan residents, particularly those in vulnerable communities like seniors relying on medical devices, have faced persistent and debilitating power outages. Data from Bridge Michigan shows that since 2000, Michigan trails only Texas and California in major outages, despite those states having populations several times larger and greater geographical areas.

“When it comes to these outages, increasingly bad weather due to the climate crisis is certainly a factor, but utilities also need to do more to improve services, rather than pad their bottom lines,” Inglot said. “We hope the Democratic legislature acts this year to address this problem. It’s the right thing to do, it’s popular and it’s necessary for Michiganders’ everyday lives.”