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On Jan. 23, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) issued an order on DTE’s electric rate case (U-21534) that raised rates by about $217 million, increasing residential rates by 4.65%. That rate hike was only about half of what DTE asked for, but several steps not taken by the MPSC, (but proposed by groups including

Northern States Power – Wisconsin (NSP-W), a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, is the regulated electric utility serving most of Gogebic and part of Ontonagon counties in the western-most part of the Upper Peninsula. CUB recently took part in a settlement agreement in NSP-W’s rate case that reduces the rate increase for NSP-W customers by 52%

Michigan regulators have open cases considering whether to grant certificates of public necessity and convenience that would allow the Michigan portions of two interstate transmission lines to be built. CUB has tried to spread the word about how these transmission projects will lead to cost savings for consumers, and new evidence is surfacing that the

Michigan regulators recently issued a warning to Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), the main electric utility for southwest Michigan: I&M has failed to show that it has been trying to get a good deal for its customers on power it purchases from an affiliated Ohio company that is a big coal-fired electricity generator, and so the

On Sept. 23 one of the most significant milestones in the effort to (hopefully) improve Michigan’s poor electric reliability arrived when the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) released the results of a year-in-the-making, comprehensive audit of the distribution systems of both DTE and Consumers Energy by third-party The Liberty Consulting Group. “We now have a

Last week the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved a $17.3 million rate increase for electric customers of Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), which, while still too high, represents another example of the MPSC demanding greater accountability for Michigan utilities because the commissioners cut the rate hike by 50% compared to I&M’s initial request. “The MPSC

On March 1, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved Consumers Energy’s latest electric rate case with an order that cut the rate increase by about 45% compared to what the utility had proposed. During the MPSC’s meeting Commissioner Alessandra Carreon explained one reason why the utility did not get all the spending approved for cost recovery

Regulations that punish utilities for poor performance is perhaps what Michiganders need the most to get more accountability and better electric reliability. But utilities are steering the regulatory process to craft new regulations toward weak and self-serving rules. Now that process is getting the spotlight it deserves with a recent Detroit News article that reports on how

The new Utility Performance Report for 2023 is the latest edition of CUB’s annual series reporting federal data on how Michigan electric and gas utilities stack up to utilities around the country on performance on key reliability, affordability and environmental metrics (Blog posts here and here provide some interesting detail about last year’s report). This year’s report stands out for two