Commission approves settlement to grant $155M rate increase for Consumers Energy customers

MICHIGAN (WNEM) - The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved a settlement agreement that grants a $155 million rate increase for electric customers of Consumers Energy.

That is a 43 percent reduction from what the company initially sought.

Consumers Energy initially requested to raise rates $272 million, and later raised that figure to $293.5 million. The settlement agreement filed in December reduced the amount to $155 million and permits the utility to implement a surcharge to recover $6 million for a 2021 distribution deferral, the commission said.

A typical customer who uses 500 kilowatt hours per month will see an increase of $2.10 on their monthly bill, or 2.06. After 12 months, the customer will see a decrease of $1.33, or 1.28 percent, due to the net effect of a surcharge and credit expiring, the commission said. This would leave a net increase of 77 cents per monthly bill, or 0.75 percent.

The commission said Consumers Energy will provide a one-time voluntary refund of $15 million in revenue from 2022 to be applied to customer bills through a monthly credit for 12 months once new rates go into effect on Jan. 20.

The company will also make a $10 million shareholder-funded contribution to programs helping low-income and payment-challenged customers.

The full settlement agreement can be found here.

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