Nessel Vows to Fight Next Consumers Energy Gas Rate Request

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says her office will intervene in a new natural gas rate case that Consumers Energy plans to bring, a move the utility announced only days after state regulators signed off on its last increase.

In a notice filed Monday, Consumers said its next request to raise gas rates would come no sooner than Dec. 18.

That notice landed less than a week after the state Public Service Commission approved a $139,176,000 annual gas increase for the company on Oct. 15. The commission trimmed the request by more than 42% from the roughly $240 million Consumers first asked for, and set the utility’s return on equity at 9.8%.

For a typical household using 75 hundred cubic feet of gas a month, the approved increase adds about $3.92 to the monthly bill, or 4.33%. Those rates begin Nov. 1.

In a written statement, Nessel argued that the company announced its next request before spending any of the money from the last one. She said large utilities such as Consumers and DTE keep staff dedicated to preparing back-to-back rate applications, with customers covering that cost, and repeated her call for regulators to make both companies track what those cases cost.

Consumers has defended its approach. The company said it files smaller, more frequent requests rather than waiting years for larger jumps, and it noted its natural gas rate fell from $11.90 to $11.03 per thousand cubic feet between 2022 and 2025. The utility serves more than 1.8 million gas customers in Michigan.

The money approved last week is aimed at the gas system itself. Regulators allowed $207 million of the $234.2 million Consumers sought for its program to replace main lines most prone to leaks, plus $66.3 million for leak detection and repair. They rejected more than $7.9 million for transmission pipeline integrity work, citing a pattern of overestimating costs and then underspending.

The attorney general’s office was one of several intervenors in the case just decided, alongside groups such as the Citizens Utility Board of Michigan and the Michigan Environmental Council.

Filed under: Detroit MI Business News