LANSING, MI — The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved a $110-million rate increase for DTE Gas Co. as part of a settlement agreement that reduced by more than 46% the requested increase on the company’s 1.2 million residential and commercial customers.
In November 2019, DTE Gas sought a $203.8-million rate increase, a request the company later reduced to $188.5 million, according to a MPSC news release. The company said it was seeking the increase to pay for natural gas system integrity expenditures and to offset increasing customer conservation and decreasing customer consumption, per the release.
All parties in the case signed onto the approved settlement, except for the Residential Customer Group, which filed a statement of non-objection, according to the release.
New rates will take effect on Oct. 1, with a residential customer using 100 cubic feet of gas a month seeing an increase of approximately $2.97 a month, MPSC officials said in the release.
When an infrastructure recovery mechanism goes into effect in January 2021, the same customer will see an increase of approximately 63 cents, or 0.8%, for a total increase of $3.60, or 4.7%, according to the release.
DTE Gas Co. also agreed to making a one-time donation of $1 million to The Heat and Warmth Fund, launch a demand response pilot program in winter of 2021-22, include a 10-year natural gas delivery plan in its next general rate case and a long term infrastructure plan, per the release.
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