The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today issued an order directing Consumers Energy Company to off-set any electric rate increase it plans to implement on May 14 for residential customers with $36 million in proceeds from the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant decommissioning fund, which resulted from the sale of the plant.  The utility was also ordered to use the rate design it filed on Nov. 14, 2008 in any rate increase.  The result, if Consumers Energy chooses to self-implement a rate increase on May 14, would increase the average residential customer's monthly bill by 3.5 percent, or $2.99, until Nov. 14.

Public Act 286 of 2008 permits a utility to implement a rate increase through equal percentage increases or decreases applied to all base rates if the MPSC has not issued an order within 180 days of a complete application.

"In today's order, the MPSC directed the utility to use the rate design it filed on Nov. 18, 2008 to implement any rate increase - not the rate design it filed on April 29, 2009," noted MPSC Chairman Orjiakor Isiogu.  "The Commission, mindful of the difficult economic times, also directed the company to off-set the increase planned for residential customers for the next six months with $36 million in proceeds from the sale of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.  The result minimizes the effect on residential customers, which could have been as high as a 16 percent increase."

The utility on Nov. 14, 2008 filed an application seeking a $215 million rate increase and other relief.  On April 29, the company filed proposed tariffs reflecting its intent to implement a rate increase of $179 on May 14. 

The MPSC is an agency within the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.

Case No. U-15645