Amanda Forrester / news@whmi.com

Consumers Energy received authorization for a rate hike they said will improve grid reliability and reduce outages.

The Michigan Public Service Commission approved the $153,809,000 increase on March 21.

Consumers had originally sought $325 million. $303 million would come from rates and $22 million would be in a separate “12-month surcharge for distribution deferral,” according to a press release about the increase.

The rate increase is scheduled to take effect Apr. 4. Officials said the typical residential customer will see an increase of $2.78 or, 2.79%, on their bill if they use 500 kWh per month.

Along with the increase, the Commission approved multiple investments to improve electric grid reliability and reduce outages to customers.

- Fully funding the $125,086,000 proposed by the company for tree trimming while also directing Consumers to better consider the benefits of accelerating vegetation management efforts to a four-year fixed tree trimming cycle, something the company’s own analysis found was the optimal cycle length.

- Low-voltage distribution investments specifically targeted at reducing the number of customers who experience frequent outages. In 2023, 10.7% of Consumers customers experienced four or more outages per year. The LVD investments are aimed at reducing that number to 6% of customers, consistent with the MPSC’s Service Quality Rules.

- High-voltage distribution investments designed to improve grid reliability through capacity upgrades, new tools and technology.

- $86,347,000 for year two of restricted, proactive recovery of strategic distribution investments for LVD line reliability, resilience and system protection via an investment recovery mechanism.

- System modernization that will allow Consumers to more quickly learn where faults are on the grid and automatically reroute power, helping to isolate the impact of disruptions and minimize customer outages.

Consumers’ Environmental Justice Resiliency Plan was also accepted by the Commission. They also received a recommendation to “explore, along with other regulated electric and natural gas utilities, changes to summertime extreme weather policies, such as prohibitions on shut offs during periods of extreme heat.”