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The deadly tornadoes that swept through Southwest Michigan this month, followed by the Upper Peninsula blizzard and severe winter storm across northern Michigan, underscore the importance of being prepared for severe weather and the damage it can wreak.
The MPSC encourages Michiganders to check out our safety information materials that can help protect your family’s wellbeing. The MPSC and other state agencies participate in Severe Weather Awareness Week each March, highlighting the risks of weather events from tornadoes and heavy winds and rain, to ice storms and heavy snow.
Here are links to useful tips to help protect your family:
- The MPSC’s Preparing for and Responding to Power Outages webpage includes links to resources including our power outage checklist and more.
- If you see a downed power line, always assume it is energized and dangerous. Stay at least 35 feet away, and don’t come into contact with anything it touches. Call your utility or 911 to report a downed line.
- Our tip sheet on portable generators has important info to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning at your home: mi.gov/-oYSr1104
- gov has a webpage with information about food safety, including having safe foods on hand in case of an outage, proper sanitation, and when to discard perishable foods.
The latest episode of the MPSC’s podcast Behind the Meter features a discussion about how Michigan is turning the corner on reliability and keeping customer energy costs in check despite the need to invest in upgrades to the state’s power grid.
Michigan in 2019-2024 shaved nearly an hour of power outages annually per customer, more than any other state. DTE Electric, the state’s largest electric utility, hit the top quartile of utilities across the country for reliability in 2025, for the first time in more than two decades. Consumers Energy customers continue to see fewer power outages minutes each year, and in 2024 more than 93% of its customers were restored within 24 hours of a power outage, up from 87% the year before.
Improving electric reliability has been the top priority of the Commission in recent years after decades of poor utility performance. The MPSC’s groundwork — including a first-ever independent third-party audit of DTE Electric and Consumers Energy’s distribution systems, approved funding for more frequent tree-trimming cycles, and investments to upgrade an aging system — is showing results. But there’s there’s still a long way to go.
Join Chair Dan Scripps, Commissioners Katherine Peretick and Shaquila Myers, and podcast host and MPSC Chief Operating Officer Mike Byrne as they discuss how the Commission has helped keep Michiganders’ actual household energy costs lower than you might think.
Michigan ranked 18th among all states and the District of Columbia for household energy costs, factoring in gas and electric bills. On electric bills alone, Michiganders’ average monthly electric bill in 2024 was $119.31, nearly $23 dollars below the national average of $142.16, and lower than two neighboring states: Ohio ($135.16) and Indiana ($133.06), according EIA data. Customer energy bills, not rates per kilowatt hour alone, are more reflective of the impact of energy costs.
As inflation around the country has been an area of increasing public concern, increasing 22.5% between 2020 and 2025, average residential bill growth in Michigan from Commission-approved rate case orders was 5.3% lower than the overall rate of inflation during that time period.
Here is information about orders issued at the MPSC’s March 12 Commission meeting:
- The Commission is seeking comment on its ongoing efforts to strengthen policies that govern prevention of shutoffs during times of extreme heat or cold. Taking steps after the MPSC Staff filed a report recommending changes to the extreme weather policies, the Commission now seeks input from interested groups and individuals on the recommendations, including establishing shutoff pauses with triggers of 20 degrees or when the wind chill drops below zero for the cold weather season, and 90 degrees or when humidity will cause an extreme weather advisory during warm months; establishing a uniform, consistent policy for all utilities, and more. Learn more about the effort in Case No. U-20140.
- The MPSC encouraged regulated utilities to continue to pursue federal funding opportunities for utility infrastructure improvements, even as federal priorities change between presidential administrations (Case No. U-21227). The Commission noted that federal funding can help reduce costs for Michigan ratepayers and align with the state’s energy goals. Utilities are directed to continue filing updates on their efforts biannually, while electric transmission companies are encouraged to do so.
- The Commission approved a settlement agreement (Case No. U-21918) on Consumers Energy Co.’s application for approval of the reconciliation of capital spending in the utility’s electric distribution investment recovery mechanism, approved in Case No. U-21389, for the 12 months ending Feb. 28, 2025, and a refund of underspent amounts of $59,802.
Tune in to our next regularly scheduled commission meeting on March 27 at 11 a.m.
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