LANSING – Yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed testimony before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) arguing that Consumers Energy Company’s requested $248 million rate hike for natural gas customers should be reduced by nearly 70%. Consumers Energy requested the rate hike only five months after receiving authority to increase its gas rates by $35 million.

Consumers Energy is seeking permission to bill its customers an additional $248 million annually, on top of current rates, amounting to a 12% residential rate hike. It is also asking the Commission to increase the profit percentage it makes on certain expenses, further increasing the return for its shareholders at a direct cost to its customers. In addition, Consumers Energy is seeking to increase residential and small commercial monthly charges by 33% after receiving, in its last gas rate case, a 10% increase in the monthly charge for residential customers and a 13% increase in the small commercial monthly charge.  

Attorney General Nessel filed testimony urging the Commission to reduce the rate hike to $76.5 million, a 3.5% overall increase for ratepayers and a 3.7% increase for residential ratepayers.    

“As we’ve seen time and again, Consumers Energy and DTE continue to prioritize padded profits over serving the needs of their customers in every rate hike request,” Nessel said. “In this case, our review found that about 70% of Consumers Energy’s proposed rate hike is unjustified. Once again, they are attempting to inflate their request by including unwarranted expenses to boost their bottom line and profitability, all on the backs of the Michigan ratepayers trapped in their monopoly. While I applaud my team for uncovering these excessive costs, more must be done to break the cycle of these endless rate hikes, and to tell Consumers Energy and DTE their annual attempts to pass crooked costs onto our residents are unacceptable.” 

Since taking office, the Attorney General has helped save Michigan consumers more than $3.7 billion by intervening in utility cases before the MPSC. Today’s testimony filed at the Commission reaffirms her commitment to affordable energy for consumers. Additional rate hike cases open before the Commission include DTE’s latest electric rate hike request (U-21860), expected to be filed this week, and Consumers Energy’s already announced electric rate hike. 

Consumers Energy sells natural gas to approximately $1.8 million customers in Michigan.