DTE Energy’s latest electric rate request is putting The Barn Data Center in Saline Township back into the statewide debate over utility costs, customer protections and whether the public can see the math behind large power users.
DTE is asking the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve about $474.3 million in additional annual electric revenue. The company’s rate case summary lists the proposed increase for residential customers at 9.7%, with an overall increase of 7.6% across residential, business and other customer groups.
The request does not mean bills will immediately rise. A rate case is the public process regulators use to decide whether a utility can raise customer rates. DTE says the filing will go through an approximately 10-month review, with a final decision and any possible rate changes expected in late February 2027.
DTE says the case is primarily driven by investments in grid reliability and power generation. But the company is also pointing to data center development, including the approved Saline Township project, as a reason it may be able to pause future electric rate requests.
In an April 23 statement, DTE said it intends to avoid filing another electric rate request until at least 2028 if the first data center project it is supporting comes online by the end of 2027 and the company receives other regulatory approvals.
DTE said two data center contracts, one already approved and one pending before the MPSC, are expected to contribute nearly $9 billion to its electric system through 2045. The company said data centers will not raise customer rates because they are governed by separate contracts and must pay the full cost of power lines, equipment and other infrastructure needed to serve them.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has challenged that framing. Nessel said she will intervene in DTE’s latest rate case, which her office said comes about two months after DTE received approval for a separate $242.4 million increase.
In a public statement, Nessel criticized DTE’s proposal, saying the company was offering to skip a future rate hike only after approval of its current request, only if it receives other data center approvals and only if the Saline data center comes online without delay.
“This isn’t a commitment, it’s a ransom note,” Nessel said.
Nessel has also appealed the MPSC’s approval of the Saline Township data center contracts. Her office says the contracts are tied to a 1.4-gigawatt artificial intelligence data center in Washtenaw County and are between DTE and Green Chile Ventures LLC.
Nessel’s office argues the MPSC approved the contracts without granting a contested case hearing, a formal process that would have allowed consumer and environmental advocates to review the redacted contracts, test DTE’s claims and examine protections for ratepayers if the project does not use the expected amount of electricity, leaves the state early or goes bankrupt.
Nessel’s office did not respond to a request for additional comment by deadline.
State Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, said more transparency is needed.
“The lack of a contested case means that we don’t get to see the details of why MPSC concluded that this data center won’t increase rates,” Irwin said in an email.
Irwin said state law bars the MPSC from subsidizing data centers with money from residential ratepayers.
“I always think we should be able to see that math so that we can verify the law is followed,” Irwin said.
Matt Helms, public information officer for the MPSC, said the commission and its staff review all costs utilities seek to recover through customer rates.
“Any costs that DTE Electric Co. or other utilities want to recover from ratepayers have to be thoroughly reviewed by the MPSC before being approved,” Helms said. “All rate cases are conducted publicly, with filings available through the MPSC’s free E-Dockets system.” For local readers, the dispute is not only about DTE’s latest rate request. It is also about whether the public can verify DTE’s claim that large data center customers will help reduce future costs rather than shift them to homes and small businesses.
Featured image: The Barn Data Center site in Saline Township is part of a statewide debate over DTE’s latest electric rate request, data center contracts and customer protections. Photo by Heather Finch
114 North Main St Suite 10 Chelsea, MI 48118
