State Rep. Ken Borton is speaking out today after the Michigan Public Service Commission authorized DTE Energy to raise customer rates by $368 million – a 6.4% increase. The original rate hike request was more than double what DTE ultimately received.

“The governor’s appointed bureaucrats didn’t even let her signature dry before helping utility companies pass increased renewable energy costs onto customers,” said Borton, R-Gaylord. “It’s disturbing to see how quickly this terrible new policy will drain the pockets of everyday people. Families up north and across Michigan are already dealing with high costs from inflation this holiday season. Lansing Democrats are piling the bills even higher as they work to please radical environmentalists and the fat cat utility companies.”

DTE said it needed the rate increase in part to comply with the state’s existing clean energy goals — requirements much smaller than Democrats’ new clean energy mandates. The “100% clean energy” laws Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed this week will effectively ban natural gas power plants by requiring expensive, impractical technology, and by shifting to more wind and solar, which are less reliable power sources than natural gas. The bills repealed a rate cap, a move that will allow utilities to pass on 100% of the green energy implementation expenses to ratepayers.

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