Consumer's Energy

Last week, state House members grilled DTE and Consumers Energy officials about the outages. This week, it's the Senate's turn

Michigan’s largest utility companies faced questioning from state lawmakers Wednesday over recent widespread blackouts.

State regulators want to hear from frustrated Michigan residents who lost electricity during recent storms across the Lower Peninsula. The Michigan Public Service Commission sets rates and other policies affecting utilities.

Today on the show, Bridge Michigan analyzes the share of legislators receiving campaign contributions from DTE and Consumer's Energy.

Recent outages affected hundreds of thousands of Michiganders. One Washtenaw County commissioner says utility companies have too much influence over state politicians.

Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, and Michigan Public Service Commission Chair Dan Scripps joined the show to talk through holding Michigan's energy companies accountable.

DTE Energy will begin new "time of day" rates for its customers in March. That means higher electricity rates when it's most expensive to produce electricity.

DTE Energy's new 20-year energy plan envisions leaving coal as a fuel behind by 2035. That's not fast enough for many environmental, community, and health groups.

DTE Energy and Consumers Energy officials told investors the IRA will have a big impact on how swiftly they can add more renewable energy.

The Monday evening storms brought 70 mile per hour winds that caused mass outages throughout the state, including most of Metro Detroit.