Michigan Regulators Slash DTE Electric’s Revenue Hike by Nearly Half, Replace Net Metering Program

The Michigan Public Service Commission on May 2 approved a rate increase of about  $273 million for DTE Electric Co., over 40 percent less than the company’s request. The agency rejected the company’s proposed method to determine payments for customers with distributed renewable generation, as well as its proposed system access charge, finding that it is not equitable.

The new rates, effective May 9, will raise monthly bills by about 6.1 percent for residential customers, 4.3 percent for commercial customers, and 2.5 percent for industrial customers. Last July, DTE filed a proposal to raise rates by $328 million and end a $148 million rate cut tied to the federal tax cut law that slashed the corporate income tax to 21 percent from 35 percent, effective Jan. 1, 2018.

A new distributed generation program will replace net metering, which was phased out by legislation enacted in 2016. Existing customers will be grandfathered in under the net metering program for ten years from the date of their enrollment. The agency ruled that the proper compensation for customer generators’ grid exported energy should be the supply component cost minus the transmission cost, rejecting DTE’s proposed distributed generation credit based on a monthly average real-time locational marginal price for energy. The commission denied the utility’s proposed solar access charge, saying that it is not based on system usage and is not equitable.

The commission authorized DTE to invest $13 million in a three-year electric vehicle charging pilot, called Charging Forward, which will include information campaigns and rebates.

DTE Electric is a subsidiary of DTE Energy Company.