The Michigan Public Service Commission approved the second round of federal tax cut adjustments, called Credit B, requiring Consumers Energy Company and DTE Electric Company to return about $69.7 million and 92.8 million, respectively, to their electric customers beginning this month. With this ruling, the commission has ordered $228 million in Credit B refunds, in addition to $379.5 million in the initial round of Credit A rate cuts for utility customers. The third phase, to be announced next year, will quantify the impact on customer bills of long-term items that have not been considered in the prior steps.

The commission established a three-step process to address the short- and long-term impacts of the federal tax law, which slashed the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. The Credit B calculations determine refunds from Jan. 1, 2018 when the tax law took effect until the date when the Credit A refund was reflected in customer bills. Credit A savings will remain in effect until the commission approves new rates using the lower corporate tax rate.

Consumers Energy is a subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp. DTE Electric is a subsidiary of DTE Energy Company.