is time of serious cost concerns in households all across Michigan, from groceries to gasoline, from the gas bill to the electric bill, it is remarkable our utilities continue to demand, and receive, rate hikes as large as we've ever seen. Consumer's Energy serves $1.9M customers Dig deeper: Since 2020, the MPSC has approved nearly $800 million in rate hikes for Consumers Energy, which sells electricity to approximately 1.9 million customers throughout Michigan. Nessel's office says Consumers Energy announced its pursuit of this rate hike on April 3, 2026, just seven days after the MPSC approved a $276 million rate hike for the company, and filed its application to hike rates by $456 million in June. Watchdog groups have criticized the commission - whose members make more than $150,000 per year on six-year terms - as a little more than a rubber-stamp for utility increases by DTE Energy and Consumers over the years. There are documented instances where the regulatory body has denied rate increases, including in 2022 when DTE electric rate increase was denied with $30.5 million of the original $388 million requested, allowed. Nessel's office says it has saved Michigan consumers more than $4.6 billion by intervening in utility cases before the MPSC. Recent rate hike requests from DTE and Consumers Energy have included such inappropriate costs as private jet travel for staff, millions in executive incentive compensation tied to maximizing shareholder returns, and other unsupported expenditures that could not be demonstrated to be reasonable or prudent, said the Attorney General's office. Other rate hike cases currently open before the MPSC include: Consumers Energy's natural gas rate hike request ( U-21981 DTE's natural gas rate hike request ( U-22241 DTE's electric rate hike request ( U-22046 SEMCO Energy Gas Company's natural gas rate hike request ( U-22002 Upper Peninsula Power Company's electric rate hike request ( U-22032 ). What you can do: If you would like to contact the Michigan Public Service Commission: Email Democratic Chair Daniel Scripps HERE Email Independent Commissioner Katherine Peretick HERE Email Democratic Commissioner Shaquila Myers HERE Contact the Lansing Main Office at 517-284-8100 and submit a complaint HERE.