DTE Energy

Ann Arbor's City Council voted 10-1 to direct the city attorney to challenge the legality of Proposal E, a public power ballot measure headed to voters on Nov. 3, "at the appropriate time." The citizen-led initiative, backed by Ann Arbor for Public Power, would amend the city charter to create a municipal electric utility board empowered to build, acquire and operate an electric system, potentially replacing DTE Energy as the city's power provider.

Council members argued the measure would strip authority from elected officials and hand it to an unelected board, raising legal concerns previously flagged by the Michigan attorney general's office over whether the charter change improperly transfers council powers. Opponents on council also cited financial risk, estimating costs could exceed $1 billion, and warned it could undercut the city's existing Sustainable Energy Utility renewable energy efforts. Supporters accused the council of trying to undermine a validated citizen initiative before voters weigh in. Council Member Cynthia Harrison cast the lone dissenting vote, citing respect for the democratic process.

Michigan voters will choose between Democrat Jocelyn Benson, the secretary of state, and Republican John James, a U.S. House member, in the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election, with a televised debate set for Oct. 6. The two candidates diverge sharply across a wide range of policy areas, including health care, housing, energy costs, taxes and utility regulation. Benson has pledged an electricity cost freeze, a Prescription Drug Affordability Board and expanded housing tax credits, while James favors deregulation, increased utility competition and sweeping income tax cuts paired with a government spending audit.

The candidates also split on right-to-work repeal, Line 5 pipeline construction, tariffs on Canada, and their relationships with President Trump, who has endorsed James. On the 2020 election, Benson defends Michigan's results as secure while James has suggested he was "screwed" in his own Senate loss that year. Other flashpoints include transgender athletes in girls sports, abortion rights, data center moratoriums, gun policy, Flock camera regulations and expanding the state's Freedom of Information Act. If elected, Benson would extend Democratic control of the governorship, while James would become Michigan's first Black governor.

Michigan regulators approved a routine inflation adjustment raising automatic outage credits to $44, effective under Michigan Public Service Commission rules. The credit applies after 16 hours without power in normal conditions, 48 hours when 1%-10% of a utility's customers are out, and 96 hours during major storms affecting more than 10% of customers.

The same day, Senate Democrats led by Sens. Stephanie Chang and Erika Geiss introduced a six-bill package (SB 1170-1175) that would replace the current system with hourly credits starting at $5 and rising to $25 per hour after 72 hours, potentially totaling hundreds of dollars for multiday outages. The bills would also require reimbursement for renters' spoiled food and lodging costs, payments to local governments for emergency response, greater bill transparency on outage history, and a ban on utilities passing credit costs to ratepayers through rate hikes.

The push follows widespread outages from summer storms around July 4 and Labor Day that hit DTE Energy and Consumers Energy customers hard. The bills face uncertain prospects in the GOP-controlled House.

Michigan's House of Representatives voted 77-26 to adopt a citizen initiative restricting political spending by utilities, but Senate Democrats have signaled they won't follow suit, sending the measure to voters in November. The proposal would bar regulated electric and gas utilities like DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, companies with more than $250,000 in annual government contracts, and closely connected entities from making direct or indirect campaign contributions to officeholders who regulate them. It would also expand disclosure requirements for political ads referencing candidates or ballot measures.

The House's move was seen as strategic: enacting the initiative directly would let a future Legislature amend it with a simple majority, while voter approval would require three-fourths support in both chambers to change. The measure reached the ballot after Michiganders for Money Out of Politics submitted more than 560,000 petition signatures, though it still faces a pending Michigan Supreme Court challenge over signature validity. The effort comes amid growing scrutiny of Michigan utilities over reliability and rate increases.