DTE’s upcoming natural gas and electric energy rate increases still aren’t final.  And they’ve already made the paper.

It’s not just the magnitude of DTE’s 9-figure proposals that’s attracting media attention.  It’s certain travel-related expenses buried in the utility’s operation and maintenance costs.

Specifically, it’s $333K in corporate jet travel costs, which the Michigan Attorney General’s office is challenging in front of the MPSC.

How will those costs affect my business?

On their own, not much.  $333K makes up less than 0.05% of the total increase DTE is proposing for its 3.5 million gas or electric customers.

The cost of execs flying on private jets makes for a catchy headline.  Especially when the cost grows from year to year, as pointed out in the Detroit Free Press article.

There’s a lot more to the proposed increases than travel costs.  The rate case filings are complex and voluminous.  And even though the MPSC will likely approve only a portion of what DTE is seeking, the chances are it will still add up to a significant figure.

 

DTE Gas Company: U-21291

Requested: $262.4 million (adjusted from $266 million).  Received: TBD

Effective: 11/5/24  

 

DTE Electric Company: U-21534

Requested: $456.4 million.  Received: TBD

Effective: 1/28/25

 

If DTE serves your business for gas, electricity, or both, what impacts your bottom line will be more than just a share or travel costs.  And it could impact your bills in more than one way.

As complicated as utility rate structures can be, the many line-items generally fall into two categories: monthly charges and volumetric charges.  For every meter you have on the utility system, you pay certain monthly charges, regardless of how much energy you’re using.  And you also pay volumetric charges tied to usage.  DTE is seeking increases to all of the above.

That’s another source of debate: how the energy increases would be apportioned to the monthly and volumetric charges paid by customers in various rate classes.

Increases tilted toward monthly charges, it is argued, would put more of the burden on residential and small business customers at the lower end of the usage spectrum.  They would pay a lot more for energy even if they don’t use more than before.

Increases tilted toward per-unit charges would have a greater relative impact on higher-volume end-users.  Their usage often can be more predictable year-round if they’re operating energy-intensive equipment for business purposes in addition to heating and cooling their buildings.

However the energy increases are apportioned, there will be an absolute impact on everyone on the DTE gas and electric systems.  As we’ve written before, you can’t avoid the increase altogether.  What you can do is optimize rates so that you aren’t impacted more than you should be, given your usage profile.

If your rate structure doesn’t fit your business, it’s costing you already.  And it’s about to cost you more.

Contact us and our professionals can evaluate what the natural gas and electric rate increases mean to you.  This is especially true if you aren’t among our customers we’re monitoring already, or if you anticipate changes to your usage patterns in the near future.  And stay tuned for the results of DTE’s rate cases, which should be determined before winter.