Michigan Republicans want to repeal the state’s signature climate law in response to rising electricity bills. Democrats blame utilities for the increases and want to change how rates are set.
Neither proposal is likely to pass Michigan’s divided Legislature. But the debate is quickly shifting to the campaign trail, where Democrats and Republicans are looking to leverage the issue of rising utility costs to win over frustrated voters.
“Energy issues — ranging from gasoline prices to electric energy and natural gas — are all going to be [election] topics,” said longtime Michigan pollster Bernie Porn, who said utility bills lagged only grocery costs in a survey of voter concerns last month.
The stakes are high. Michigan’s statehouse and governor’s mansion are both up for grabs in November. That means if either party manages a sweep, they will be in prime position to set the state’s next energy policy.
One flash point is a package of climate and clean energy bills signed into law three years ago by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Democrats controlled the statehouse then, and Whitmer — who is term-limited and can’t run again — had promised the measures would cut carbon pollution and bring relief to consumers.
“Michigan’s clean energy future is bright,” she said in 2023. “Today’s bills will lower household utility costs by an average of $145 a year, create 160,000 good-paying jobs and bring nearly $8 billion of federal tax dollars home to Michigan for clean energy projects.”
But Michigan — like much of the country — now faces what elected officials of both parties deem an “affordability crisis.”
The state’s big two utilities, DTE Electric and Consumers Energy, have received rate increases totaling more than $1 billion since the start of 2023. For customers of each utility, the increases amount to more than $120 a year for the typical residential customer, according to Michigan Public Service Commission data.
The companies also have signaled their intent to file for additional increases this year related to multibillion-dollar plans to modernize the state’s electric grid.
Republicans have pinned much of the blame for rising electric bills on the 2023 climate and energy package, which requires that utilities get 100 percent of their electricity from zero-carbon resources by 2040. The laws also require 60 percent of power to come from renewables by 2035.
“By repealing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s green new scam we’re going to be lowering electricity rates,” U.S. Rep. John James, a leading GOP candidate for governor, said in an interview with the Midwesterner, a right-leaning online news site.
That viewpoint was echoed by state Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R), chair of Michigan’s House Energy Committee.
“Around the world, we’ve seen what happens when energy policies are built around political mandates instead of engineering reality,” she told members during a hearing last week.
Wendzel is a lead sponsor of a pair of bills that would, among other things, repeal Whitmer’s clean energy mandate.
House Speaker Matt Hall (R) has gone further. In addition to repealing the clean energy laws, he wants to require utilities to roll back electric rates by $1 billion to erase increases over the past three years and freeze rates for at least two years.
“We need to get rid of the renewable energy mandates and we need affordable and reliable energy … and it’s going to lower your rates dramatically,” Hall said at a news conference last month.
‘People are feeling squeezed’
Michigan Democrats — including Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial bid — seek to protect the climate laws. But they’re quick to point to other steps they believe can provide relief to consumers.
Benson last week made campaign stops in Saginaw and Detroit to roll out her “energy affordability agenda” — a plan anchored by a proposal to reform ratemaking to prioritize consumers and grid reliability over utility profits.
“Michiganders pay some of the highest heat and electricity bills in the nation while enduring an antiquated, unreliable grid rife with failures and power outages — all while monopoly utility companies make record profits,” she said.
Democrats have proposed other solutions, too, including a bill that would force utilities to file three-year rate plans with the PSC. The bill wouldn’t lower electricity costs, but it would limit how often utilities seek increases.
Another pair of bills that passed out of committee this spring would require utilities to deploy so-called virtual power plants to meet rising energy demand.
While Democrats have avoided criticism of Whitmer — considered a possible presidential candidate in 2028 — some have been less kind to her appointees on the PSC.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), who’s term-limited and can’t run for reelection this year, blasted the commission for being too cozy with utilities and ignoring recommendations from administrative law judges to reduce utility profits.
“The commissioners want to do the bidding of DTE and Consumers Energy and provide the rate increases that they request,” Nessel said during a news conference last week alongside environmental groups and state Rep. Donavan McKinney (D).
PSC Chair Dan Scripps, who has held the role since 2020, said he understands Michiganders’ frustration over rising utility bills — and inflation more broadly — and why frustration over electricity rates is directed at regulators .
“Groceries, health care, housing — all of it’s going up, and people are feeling squeezed,” he said in an interview. “I think there’s a sense that because these are regulated industries, that maybe government has a larger role in constraining energy costs than some of those other things.”
Scripps testified on the many factors affecting Michigan electric bills during a legislative hearing last week. Among them are economywide inflation and even larger jumps in the cost of key grid components such as transformers and wood poles, as well as supply chain disruptions and surging labor costs.
He told lawmakers that an aging Michigan power grid, tightening regional power markets, and federal tax policy and tariffs are adding to consumer energy costs.
Scripps also sought to provide context. While Michigan electricity and gas bills have risen, the increases have been less than the overall rate of inflation and that average Michigan electric bills are $23 less than the national average, he said.
The PSC chair said regulators must balance affordability with ensuring utilities can provide safe and reliable electric service, and that sometimes means authorizing rate increases that might upset people.
“Our decisions are often unpopular,” he said. But regulators, who serve six-year terms, take a long-term view in making decisions even when doing so brings public criticism.
“We’ve got some good evidence to show that [the approach] is working, that increases are lower than they are in other states, that our reliability is getting better,” he said.
Utilities know too that energy policy is on the ballot this fall, and they are working to exert influence.
Earlier this year, Consumers Energy CEO Garrick Rochow told Wall Street analysts that he’d met with gubernatorial candidates on the topic of energy affordability and offered a list of 10 policy suggestions. The company didn’t say what those ideas are.
Consumers Energy spokeswoman Katie Carey said the utility stands ready to work with all elected officials in Lansing regardless of political party to “advance proposals that will positively impact affordability and reliability for customers.”
The company said bipartisanship produces better outcomes for consumers, but “sadly, many of the proposals being introduced only create more division and instability for our customers at a time when they are experiencing higher prices for groceries, housing, gas prices and beyond.”
The state’s other major utility, DTE Energy, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
DTE, which is expected to formally file for an electric rate increase next week, announced Thursday that it would forgo any further rate requests for two years.
Whitmer’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
With less than six months until November’s election, the race to succeed Whitmer remains close, according to a Michigan State University poll released Monday. And not just among the two major party candidates.
Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who’s running as an independent, is running not far behind Benson, James and Republican Perry Johnson. The Michigan State poll of 1,000 respondents shows Benson leading James and Duggan with 27 percent support, though 33 percent remain undecided.
Porn, the pollster, said Duggan’s candidacy is one of a couple big wild cards that could shape the outcome in November. The other is President Donald Trump.
“I think the Democrats have an advantage going into 2026 largely because of the guy who’s sitting in Washington,” he said. “Michigan mirrors what the national polling is showing, and that is something that’s going to be difficult for Republicans to deal with.”
