July 16, 2026
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The Michigan Public Service Commission today launched an investigation into the response of three of Michigan’s largest electric utilities to the severe storms that left hundreds of thousands of Michiganders without power over a Fourth of July holiday marked with intense heat and humidity (Case No. U-22156).
A series of thunderstorms occurred on July 3 with wind gusts of 60-70 m.p.h., toppling trees and knocking down branches across the Lower Peninsula. DTE Electric Co. reported 387,000 customer outages, Consumers Energy Co. reported 276,000 outages, and Indiana Michigan Power Co. (I&M) reported 35,000 outages. The service interruptions lasted from a few hours to several days, as temperatures reached the humid upper 80s and low 90s.
The MPSC received more than 1,500 customer complaints about the three utilities’ responses to the storms. Many customers were frustrated with inaccurate outage restoration estimates and how long it took to restore service given the dangerous heat and humidity.
“Michigan utility customers deserve reliable service, prompt restoration after storm events, and accurate information on how long outages will last when they do happen,” MPSC Chair Dan Scripps said. “We share in the frustrations about the outages and the utilities’ response to them. Getting the power back on quickly is especially critical when customers are facing extreme weather events, which are becoming increasingly common.”
The Commission directed Consumers, DTE Electric and I&M to file comprehensive reports by Aug. 27, 2026, detailing responses to the July 3 storms and needed improvements. The reports must include information about the deployment of resources in their responses, including allocation of crews working to restore power and guard downed wires, and challenges the utilities faced in securing sufficient personnel because of holiday scheduling constraints and limitations on mutual aid from other utilities. The reports also must include detailed evaluations of public and customer communication efforts, how accurate restoration estimates were, and any other pertinent issues or lessons learned.
The Commission recognizes that, despite posting significant improvements in recent years, Michigan’s utilities have to do better at reducing the frequency and duration of outages. The July 3 storms notwithstanding, Michigan utilities have posted improvements in reducing outages and faster response times. The Commission has approved major investments in grid modernization and faster cycles of tree trimming around power lines, the leading cause of outages in Michigan.
The MPSC’s investigation of the recent outages will focus on where utilities fell short and allow the Commission to make determinations regarding the sufficiency of responses to the outages.
Meanwhile, the Commission today also directed the state’s regulated electric and natural gas utilities to file updated extreme weather policies to better protect customers (Case No. U-20140).
Recognizing changing weather patterns and the challenges they present, the Commission in 2025 launched a review of polices that utilities follow on suspending service during extreme heat or cold. The Commission took public input, held a technical conference in November 2025 and directed MPSC Staff to file a report with recommendations for strengthening customer protections, of paramount importance during extreme weather events.
The Commission today adopted MPSC Staff’s recommendations, including:
The Commission directed electric and natural gas utilities to file updated extreme weather condition policies by Oct. 15, 2026, and for Staff to review each filed policy by Nov. 15, 2026, after which the Commission will indicate in a subsequent order whether each weather condition policy has been approved.
The Michigan Electric and Gas Association; DTE Electric Co. and DTE Gas Co.; the Michigan Department of Attorney General; Citizens Utility Board of Michigan; the Michigan Municipal Association for Utility Issues; and Consumers Energy Co. participated in the proceeding.
Strengthened extreme-weather shutoff protections join other safeguards for utility customers, including the MPSC’s recent announcement of its effort to include an explicit goal that the energy burden for income-constrained customers should be no more than 6% of household income, and aligning energy assistance efforts accordingly. Other customer protection programs include the Winter Protection Plan, which prevents shutoffs for seniors and income-eligible households between Nov. 1 and March 31 each year, and Critical Care Protections for customers whose households have a member who requires home medical equipment or a life-support system for whom interruption of service would be immediately life-threatening.
The MPSC’s consumer tip sheet has more information about energy assistance and shutoff protections for residential customers.
MPSC FINDS ALL ELECTRIC PROVIDERS MET CAPACITY DEMONSTRATION REQUIREMENTS
The Commission today accepted two reports from MPSC Staff finding that all electric providers met capacity demonstration requirements for the 2029-2030 planning year, as required by Michigan law. The Commission accepted MPSC Staff’s Capacity Demonstration Results report, as well as the Staff’s 2026 Statewide Energy Storage Target Calculation (Case No. U-21907).
Michigan’s capacity demonstration process was established in 2016 and requires all electric providers, including investor-owned utilities, municipal electric utilities, cooperative electric utilities, and alternative electric suppliers, to demonstrate they have sufficient resources to serve their customers four years into the future. Together with the integrated resource planning process also established in the 2016 energy laws, these planning processes help ensure Michigan electric providers are able to maintain resource adequacy for their customers, even as the electric grid continues to evolve.
As part of today’s order, the Commission also directed the Staff to convene a workgroup to consider the impacts to Michigan’s planning process stemming from MISO’s recent changes to how it accredits resources and to recommend changes to the capacity demonstration process related to a 5% limit on planned resource auction purchases. The Commission directed electric utilities and other load-serving entities to file capacity demonstrations for the 2030-2031 planning year as described in the order and directed MPSC Staff to file its next analysis of the capacity demonstrations by May 12, 2027, in Case No. U-22142. Staff also must file the update to the energy storage capacity amounts using the Statewide Energy Storage Target Calculation within 30 days of the completion of the 2030-2031 capacity demonstrations. Finally, the Commission also found that DTE Electric Co.’s planned resources were sufficient to service the planned new large load resulting from special contracts with Green Chile Ventures, which will foot the bill for 1,383 MW of electricity storage approved by the Commission in 2025. The requirement that DTE Electric Co. include details relating to these special contracts as part of its capacity demonstration filings was one of the additional protections included in the Commission’s order approving the contracts to ensure appropriate steps were taken to protect DTE Electric Co.’s other customers.
MPSC APPROVES DTE ELECTRIC CO. APPLICATION FOR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM TOLLING AGREEMENTS
The MPSC approved DTE Electric Co.’s application for ex parte approval of tolling agreements for the company’s KCE MI 2 Energy Storage System and Redstart Energy Storage System (Case No. U-22060). The two tolling agreements, together constituting 300 megawatts, are meant to fulfill special contracts the MPSC approved for DTE Electric to deploy 1,383 megawatts of energy storage to serve a data center in Washtenaw County, to be fully funded by Green Chile Ventures. The projects have a blended levelized cost of storage of $15.30 per kilowatt-month. The Michigan Department of Attorney General requested to intervene in the case and convert it into a contested matter, but the Commission declined the request as the tolling agreements in this case are typical of those that are regularly approved on an ex parte basis.
MSPC APPROVES INDIANA MICHIGAN POWER CO. POWER SUPPLY COST RECOVERY RECONCILIATION
The Commission approved Indiana Michigan Power Co.’s (I&M) application for approval of the utility’s reconciliation of its power supply cost recovery (PSCR) costs and revenues for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024 with modifications (Case No. U-21428). The Commission directed I&M to reflect a net underrecovery of $10,089,537, including interest, as the utility’s 2025 PSCR reconciliation beginning balance.
COMMISSION APPROVES DTE ELECTRIC CO.’S ELECTRIC INVESTMENT RECOVERY MECHANISM BUT EXPRESSES CONCERNS
The MPSC approved DTE Electric Co.’s application for authority to reconcile its electric investment recovery mechanism (IRM) for the 13 months ending Dec. 31, 2024 (Case No. U-21845). The Commission directed DTE Electric to return a net over-recovery of $120,000 to customers through a regulatory liability amortized in a future rate case filed after this reconciliation case. Among other issues, the Commission expressed concern about a lack of alignment between DTE Electric’s proposed IRM expenditures and a comprehensive, well-supported distribution strategy, raising “real concerns about whether the IRM process is working as intended.”
MPSC DENIES PETITION FOR REHEARING IN DTE ELECTRIC CO. RATE CASE
The MPSC denied a petition for rehearing on an aspect of the Commission’s Feb. 19 order approving a general rate increase for DTE Electric Co. (Case No. U-21860). The Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) sought a rehearing on the order on the Commission’s decision to expand and extend DTE Electric’s infrastructure recovery mechanism, or IRM, to include $200 million in pole top maintenance and modernization, $68.9 million in incremental expenditures for distribution automation, and other spending including breaker replacement and substation redesign and rebuilding. The Michigan Department of Attorney General concurred with the MEC’s petition. The Commission, however, found that the petition did not meet the threshold for a rehearing as it did not demonstrate errors, lay out newly discovered evidence, or outline unintended consequences of the Commission’s decision. The Commission found that there are meaningful opportunities to review the utility’s IRM spending in depth in upcoming IRM reconciliations and to review future plans as part of rate cases.
COMMISSION APPROVES i3 BROADBAND’S APPLICATION FOR PERMANENT BASIC LOCAL EXCHANGE SERVICE LICENSE
The MPSC granted i3 Broadband a permanent license to provide basic local exchange service throughout the state (Case No. U-22045). The Commission previously granted the company a temporary license in May 2026, finding that approval will expand opportunities for competition in provision of service subject to compliance with the Michigan Telecommunications Act and related MPSC requirements.
CONSUMERS ENERGY’S PROPOSED REPLACEMENT NATURAL GAS PIPELINE IN ALLEGAN COUNTY GIVEN THE NOD
The Commission approved an application from Consumers Energy Co. to construct and operate a natural gas pipeline to replace and reroute the utility’s Salem Mainline 2 16-inch natural gas line (Case No. U-22055). Consumers sought approval to construct a new 4,013-foot pipeline, 16 inches in diameter, in Allegan County’s Salem Township, to replace the existing line that was built in the 1960s and is no longer in an area that’s suitable for required hydrotesting. The new pipeline will be built to current engineering standards to increase safety and reliability. The project is expected to be built in 2026 and cost $6.1 million, with recovery of the costs subject to review in a future rate case.
COMMISSION OKS BUSINESS CUSTOMER DEMAND RESPONSE TARIFF CHANGES AS DTE ELECTRIC CO., CONSUMERS ENERGY CO. PREPARE FOR REAL POWER TESTING REQUIREMENTS FROM REGIONAL GRID OPERATOR
The MPSC approved changes to commercial and industrial demand response (DR) programs for Consumers Energy Co. (Case No. U-22039) and DTE Energy Co. (Case No. U-22068). The changes the utilities sought are in response to changes in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) updated Open Access Transmission, Energy and Operating Reserve Markets Tariff issued in November 2025. The tariff changes from MISO, the regional transmission organization for most of Michigan, changed, among other things, the language surrounding real power test standards for DR resources. Under its new tariffs, MISO will require market participants to demonstrate demand reduction capability for each resource registered in its planning resource auction in each applicable planning year, beginning with 2026/2027, and the demonstrations must occur through annual performance of real power testing.
Real power tests often require a disruption of operations and can be burdensome and costly to commercial and industrial customers. But the Commission recognizes the need to ensure grid reliability by verifying the availability and accountability of DR resources to perform at their registered levels. Michigan has long allowed simulated power tests to suffice, so the transition to real power testing could result in disenrollment from the programs and potentially deter future enrollment. The Commission urged DTE Electric and Consumers to develop strategies to retain or grow their commercial and industrial DR capabilities and directed both utilities to meet with MPSC Staff to discuss these issues within 60 days.
MPSC APPROVES ALPENA POWER CO.’S REQUEST FOR ACCOUNTING AUTHORITY TO DEFER COSTS FROM MARCH 2026 ICE STORM
The MPSC approved Alpena Power Co.’s application for accounting authority to establish a regulatory asset to defer the significant operations and maintenance expenses the utility incurred in responding to the devastating March 2026 ice storm in northern Michigan (Case No. U-22110). The storm caused widespread damage to Alpena Power’s grid that the utility said cost $2.8 million, higher than any storm in its territory on record. The Commission granted the company’s request for ex parte approval, noting that the authorization is for accounting purposes only. Alpena Power still must provide comprehensive data in a future cost recovery case in which the utility must demonstrate that its restoration efforts were conducted in a cost-effective way, show how customers experienced optimal restoration of service, and other additional information before costs can be recovered from its customer base.
The MPSC serves as an expert, impartial regulator committed to consumer protection, fairness and transparency. 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.
To look up cases from today’s meeting, access the MPSC’s E-Dockets filing system.
Watch recordings of the MPSC’s meetings on the MPSC’s YouTube channel.
DISCLAIMER: This document was prepared to aid the public’s understanding of certain matters before the Commission and is not intended to modify, supplement, or be a substitute for the Commission’s orders. The Commission’s orders are the official action of the Commission.
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