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The Michigan Public Service Commission remained focused on reliability and affordability for Michigan’s energy customers in 2025, an impactful year that brought a new face to the Commission as well as significant progress and work to address ongoing challenges.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights of the past year.
New Commissioner appointed
- Shaquila Myers was appointed to the Commission by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in July. Myers previously had been chief of staff to former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, as a senior advisor to Whitmer and as chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist. She received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in public administration from Oakland University.
Affordability and customer protections
- The MPSC worked on expansion of the Michigan Energy Assistance Program, after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state Legislature approved raising the eligibility threshold for Michigan households to be able to receive MEAP assistance in late 2024, and the amount that may be raised for it. In the first year of the expanded MEAP, more than 20,000 additional income-eligible households are projected to receive utility bill assistance and self-sufficiency services.
- Michigan’s energy waste reduction efforts, among the most cost-effective in the nation, generated lifetime savings of $1.4 billion for customers. Every $1 utilities spent on EWR programs — offerings include help with upgraded lighting, heating, ventilation and cooling, home weatherization, energy education, appliance recycling and more — generated $2.40 of benefits, lowering customer bills through reduced energy use.
- The Commission raised power outage bill credits to $42 per day for customers experiencing long or repeat outages, making the credit 68% higher than before the Commission updated outage credits in 2023. Before the update, the outage credit was a one-time $25, and customers had to request the credit from their utility. The credits are meant to provide some compensation to customers for losing power but also serve as a financial incentive for utilities to reduce the frequency and duration of power outages. Because of these changes, utility customers in 2024 received $8,456,093 in outage credits, a sevenfold increase over the $1,213,286 in credits provided to customers in 2022.
Improving electric reliability
- The Commission ordered reliability improvements for the state’s two largest electric utilities — Consumers Energy and DTE Electric — guided by the results of an independent, third-party audit of the companies’ equipment and operations. The Commission took action on 75 recommendations from the audit (Case No. U-21305). The Commission also approved additional funding for utility tree trimming; falling trees and branches are the leading cause of outages in Michigan.
- The MPSC approved measures to establish ways that the state’s two largest electric utilities may receive incentives or penalties for the companies to improve their performance in keeping the lights on and reducing the number and duration of power outages, for DTE Electric Co. in Case No. U-21909 and for Consumers Energy Co. in Case No. U-21911. The incentives and penalties are based on whether the utilities meet specific goals such as reducing the average length of customer outages, the length of time utilities take to restore power after storms and in calm weather conditions, and the number of customers experiencing four or more outages per year, as well as improving the utilities’ worst-performing circuits.
Accessibility and transparency
- The MPSC continued its efforts to connect with more Michiganders on important issues at the MPSC, including holding five public hearings across the state. These included holding public hearings in Gaylord on the response to the disastrous March ice storm in northern Michigan, virtually on DTE Electric Co.’s application for approval of special contracts for a Washtenaw County data center, in Detroit for a discussion on improving public participation in Commission proceedings and in Grand Rapids and Auburn Hills on Integrated Resource Planning Parameters.
- The Commission launched a new monthly podcast, Behind the Meter, that explores important issues in energy and telecommunications.
- The MPSC also debuted its Instagram account, influenced by suggestions from a public town hall where participants said Instagram is one of the best ways to reach them with important information.
- The Commission also launched a new Geographic Information System tool that provides information including mapping of service territories for every Michigan energy utility, along with locations of power plants, renewable energy sources and pipelines that transport natural gas and oil. The GIS tool is available at the MPSC’s Reports, Forms, & Data
Growth of data centers
- The Commission approved Consumers Energy’s application to amend the terms and conditions under which the utility serves data centers and other very large electric customers. The approval included provisions to protect other ratepayers from subsidizing data centers or facing other additional costs with the arrival of the energy-intensive facilities (Case No. U-21859).
- The Commission conditionally approved special contracts sought by DTE Electric Co. to serve a proposed 1.4-gigawatt data center in Washtenaw County’s Saline Township (Case No. U-21990). The Commission conditioned the approval on DTE Electric agreeing that other customers will not pay for any costs it is unable to recover from Green Chile Ventures LLC — subsidiary of the tech company Oracle Corp., which along with Open AI and Related Digital announced plans for the data center. The Commission also directed DTE Electric to update emergency procedures so that, should an energy emergency happen requiring interrupting service to customers, the data center’s electricity load will be reduced or interrupted before any other customers.
Telecommunications developments
- With available phone numbers running low in metro Detroit’s 313 area code, the MPSC worked to smooth the arrival of a new 679 overlay area code that will be given to new phone customers when 313 area code numbers run out. Existing customers keep their 313 phone numbers. The biggest immediate change is that customers in the 313 area code now must dial an area code with all local calls.
- The Commission issued a cease and desist order to CMC Telecom and Internet Inc. for operating without a license, issuing fines of more than $60,000 to the company for providing unauthorized telecommunication services (Case No. U-21904).
- The MPSC also revoked the eligible telecommunications carrier designation of Q Link Wireless LLC, a company the Federal Communications Commission suspended from receiving federal funding through the Lifeline program that provides discounted phone service to seniors and low-income households (Case No. U-16940).
Infrastructure matters
- The Commission approved two new electric transmission lines in southern Michigan, the first new interstate transmission lines in the state in nearly 50 years. Approved were the Nelson Road to Oneida project, a 39-mile, 345 kilovolt (kV) double circuit line between substations in Gratiot and Eaton counties, and the Helix to Hiple project, a 55-mile, 345 kV double circuit line between substations in Calhoun and Branch counties at the Indiana border. The Commission found that both lines are needed to ensure increased energy reliability, capacity, and renewable energy integration, and that the project will not present an unreasonable threat to public health and safety (Case No. U-21471).
- Each year, the MPSC’s Gas Safety & Operations Division conducts hundreds of safety inspections and investigates incidents involving natural gas pipelines that provide the home heating fuel for more than 75% of Michigan households. The Commission approved updates to rules governing gas safety so that they adopt current federal guidelines and raise the threshold at which gas operators must report incidents to the MPSC, to $25,000 in estimated property damage from the current $10,000 (Case No. U-21847).
Supporting Michigan’s energy transition
- Among other work to implement Michigan’s 2023 energy law updates, the Commission developed processes and procedures to ensure electricity providers contribute to meeting the statewide energy storage target of 2,500 megawatts by the end of 2029 (Case No. U-21751).
- The Commission also updated the integrated resource planning parameters, with input from public hearings in Grand Rapids and Auburn Hills, to ensure they’ll have enough electricity to serve customers in the future and better align the parameters with Michigan’s clean energy goals (Case No. U-21867).
- The Commission received the first four applications for siting approval of renewable energy and energy storage facilities. Public Act 233 of 2023 established a process at the Commission for siting utility scale wind, solar and energy storage facilities under certain circumstances. The public can view current and future applications at the MPSC’s Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Facility Siting webpage.
For information about the MPSC, visit www.michigan.gov/mpsc, sign up for its monthly newsletter or other listservs. Follow the MPSC on Facebook, X/Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
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