In 2024, the Michigan Public Service Commission worked to improve the reliability of Michigan’s electric grid while implementing new energy laws and expanding public engagement to encourage more customer participation in regulatory matters before the Commission.
The MPSC’s 2024 Annual Report highlighted the MPSC’s approach to make Michigan’s power grid more reliable and resilient, including receiving and analyzing results from a third-party audit of the electric distribution systems of Michigan’s two electric utilities DTE Electric and Consumers Energy. The audit results will continue to inform efforts and future actions from the Commission to reduce the number of outages, restoration times and keep Michigan customers safe from downed power lines.
Among other efforts to improve electric reliability, the MPSC in 2024:
- Worked to establish financial penalties for poor performance and incentives for improvement through the work of its Financial Incentives and Disincentives workgroup in the MPSC’s MI Power Grid effort.
- Launched new webpages with electric distribution system reliability metrics, adding transparency to utility reliability performance. The data cover the average duration of outages, how long it takes to restore service, the frequency of outages, and the number of times a customer experiences an outage.
- Continued to support utility expenditures to increase tree trimming.
- Increased the amount of the bill credit that customers who endure lengthy or frequent power outages are eligible to receive to $40 per day, providing an accommodation for those losing electric service while incentivizing electricity providers to improve reliability and shorten outages.
The annual report also noted early signs of progress resulting from efforts to improve system reliability, with DTE Electric and Consumers Energy reporting reductions in power outage minutes and the time it took to restore power in 2024.
While Consumers Energy reported 21 fewer outage minutes per customer in 2024 and that 93% of customers who lost power were restored within 24 hours, up from 87% in 2023, DTE Electric announced a nearly 70% reduction in customer time spent without power in 2024 compared to the 2023, which the companies credited to grid improvements in addition to less severe weather.
The MPSC awarded $54 million in grants through the Michigan Energy Assistance Program (MEAP), providing home energy assistance and self-sufficiency services to 55,732 income-eligible customers. The Commission also worked to support the passage of the expansion of benefits through MEAP.
Legislation signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2024 raised the income eligibility threshold for Michigan households to be eligible to receive MEAP support and the amount expected to be raised each year for it. MEAP was able to provide energy assistance to as many as 335,000 households per year, up from an average of around 50,000 households per year in recent years.
The Commission issued orders in eight rate cases in 2024. The utilities requested a total of more than $695 million in additional revenues. After reviewing each rate case in detail, including examination of all line items sought by the companies, the Commission found about $279.3 million of the requests were reasonable and prudent investments that will benefit customers.
The Commission continued to do more to expand public engagement with regulatory matters at the MPSC. In addition, the Commission held two regular Commission meetings outside of its Lansing headquarters – Grand Rapids in June, and Escanaba in October. MPSC outreach Staff attended 31 community events to share information resources with event attendees, answered questions, built relationships, and took utility complaints.
The Commission established a new section of the agency to handle new responsibilities established under Public Act 233 of 2023, which grants the MPSC siting authority for utility-scale wind, solar and energy storage facilities under certain conditions. PA 233 was effective from November 29, 2024. The Commission in October approved application instructions and procedures for projects meeting PA 233’s requirements.
