Consumers Energy is seeking an annual electric rate hike of about $436 million, marking one of the largest asks in decades.
The utility company, which sells electricity to about 1.9 million customers in Michigan and natural gas to 1.8 million customers throughout the state, filed the request before the Michigan Public Service Commission on Monday, June 2, according to a release from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Office.
This comes after Consumers Energy filed an intent to hike rates before the agency in March, just a week after its request for a $154 million hike was approved. Customers saw this hike take effect on their electric bills on April 4.
If the company’s $436 million rate hike request is approved, it would take effect in May 2026.
This request is the largest ask that Consumers Energy has made while Nessel has been in office and is likely the largest request in decades, according to the release.
Nessel has filed a notice of intervention and said her office will “thoroughly scrutinize” the request to “protect Michigan ratepayers from corporate greed and endless, increasing rate hikes.”
“Before Consumers Energy, or anyone else for that matter, can even begin to measure any affordability or reliability improvements from their last rate hike, the company is back in business asking to bill their customers an additional $400 million annually. In a troubling continuation of the patterns we see before the MPSC from both Consumers Energy and DTE, this is at least among the largest rate hikes Consumers has ever requested, if not the largest itself,” Nessel said. “When my office alerted the public to Consumers’ announcement of this intended rate hike two months ago, the utility tried to tell their ratepayers we were wrong on the facts or misleading the people of this state. Instead, they’ve done exactly what we knew they would, exactly as their filing indicated in March. My office will thoroughly scrutinize this request and will not be deterred in our fight to protect Michigan ratepayers from corporate greed and endless, increasing rate hikes.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel
This comes as Nessel continues to intervene in utility cases to protect DTE and Consumer Energy customers across the state.
