DTE Is Holding Us Hostage Until We Approve Data Centers
So long as we let their favored AI data centers project through, the utility promises not to raise our rates for two years
On April 23, DTE Energy announced that it would “forego asking for rate increases for at least two years following its upcoming filing with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC)” as long as the data centers they support are allowed to come online.
You read that correctly. If we don’t let data centers take over our state, we’ll pay higher increased electric bills. Either way, we don’t have a choice since the decision lies solely on Whitmer appointees at the MPSC. For the record, the MPSC has never once sided with the public they’re supposed to represent when it comes to rate hikes.
The new filing is for $474.3 million and would be DTE’s fifth rate hike in the last seven years.
The press release is more spit in our face. DTE CEO Joi Harris preaches affordability, just like the MPSC preached affordability after raising our Consumers Energy bills earlier this year. I’m not the smartest person around but doesn’t affordability mean something is a reasonable price and within one's financial means? Harris by the way, allegedly took home around $8.5 million in total compensation in 2025, up nearly 60% from the previous year.
The press release goes on to say that the two data centers that DTE has contracts with will contribute $9 billion to improving the electric grid by 2045.
But wait: Isn’t Michigan supposed to running entirely on green energy by 2040? And what about global warming? Just two days before DTE put a gun to our head, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) held a conference saying that human activity is the main cause of global warming and how serious the issue is.
If it’s so serious, you would think they would be against data centers and their extraordinary water and electricity use.
Michiganders are faced with all-time-high costs for water, heat, and electricity. Dams are failing, roads are crumbling, and our infrastructure is some of the poorest in the country, while car insurance costs soar. And our reward? Either we take on data centers or pay the cronies at DTE whatever they want.
It’s a hostage situation we’ll never find our way out of.
DTE is the captain, now.
