LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – DTE Energy is gearing up to hit customers with another rate increase – this time a roughly $474 million hike – while floating a tempting offer: approve key data center deals, and the company says it could hold off on additional increases for a couple of years. The fine print? That pause hinges on regulators signing off on large-scale data center projects.

In an April 23 statement, Joi Harris, president and chief executive officer of DTE Energy, says, “As long as the first data center project we’re supporting comes online as planned by the end of 2027 and we’re able to receive other regulatory approvals, we will refrain from filing another rate request until at least 2028 – providing customers two years without an increase in rates after the current request is complete.” Harris goes on to say about the data centers, “This new industry is not only helping to grow Michigan’s economy, but once the data centers are fully online, it will make energy more affordable for all customers while bolstering our investments in creating the grid of the future.”

The fine print behind the “freeze.”

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Although DTE argues that booming data center demand could offset costs and ease the need for future increases, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel isn’t buying it. She’s pushing back not only on the latest rate hike request – filed just two months after the last one was approved – but also on the company’s conditional offer tied to future rate increases.

Nessel slams DTE’s “deal” as a ransom note, not relief.

In a recent statement, Nessel says, “Whether it’s massive half-a-billion-dollar rate hike requests or secret data center contracts, DTE continues to treat Michigan families like an open checkbook to satisfy its shareholders.” About the offer to stop raising costs if their data centers are approved, Nessel says, “DTE only offers a break in rate hikes if they win some other, unnamed data center approvals, and their Saline data center comes online with no delay. This isn’t a commitment, it’s a ransom note.”

Nessel continues to say, “DTE cites ‘affordability benefits’ associated with their secret data center contracts that have never been proven, or even reviewed by consumer advocates. Far from surrendering further review of their data center filings with the State, my office is now before the Michigan Court of Appeals fighting to even read DTE’s Saline data center contracts. My office will scrutinize their every rate hike and data center proposal as thoroughly as we always do and testify in support of protecting Michigan ratepayers.”

Regulators in the middle.

That leaves the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) holding the bag – deciding whether to sign off on deals that could shape billions in future energy costs. Meanwhile, watchdogs continue to raise concerns about transparency and repeated rate hikes stacking up year after year.

The bottom line.

DTE calls it a strategy for affordability. Skeptics call it leverage. And for Michigan residents staring down yet another bill increase, it may feel less like a promise – and more like a pay-to-pause deal with the meter still running.