WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed a motion with the Michigan Public Service Commission to reopen the review of two special contracts DTE Energy proposed to serve a massive AI data center in Saline Township.
Nessel argues that DTE has not fully agreed to conditions designed to protect existing customers from subsidizing the data center’s costs.
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The Public Service Commission had conditionally approved the contracts but required DTE to confirm in writing that payments from the data center operated by Green Chile Ventures LLC would cover all service costs.
This was intended to ensure that other DTE customers would not bear any financial burden.
However, Nessel claims DTE’s response changed the language from a firm guarantee to a more flexible statement that “aggregate revenues” over the 19-year contract would eventually cover costs.
Nessel warns that this weaker wording could allow DTE to shift some costs to its current customers in the short term.
“The Commission ordered a mere written representation from DTE that its existing customers would not subsidize the costs to serve this massive data center, and DTE failed to even meet that low bar,” Nessel said. “Because DTE did not accept the conditions as ordered by the Commission, by the Commission’s own order, this should proceed to a contested case proceeding, as I have long advocated for.”
Nessel addressed the situation in a video shared to social media.
Nessel also filed a notice of intervention and request for a contested case regarding six new, heavily redacted contracts for battery storage facilities supporting the data center.
She criticized DTE for not providing cost details, arguing that the Commission lacks enough information to approve these contracts without a full hearing.
Earlier in January, Nessel petitioned for a rehearing to challenge the Commission’s authority to approve these special contracts without a contested case.
She also sought clarification on the enforceability of the Commission’s conditions, arguing that many appear to rely on repeated assurances from DTE rather than on binding commitments.
DTE provided the following statement to Local 4:
“The conditions outlined by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) in their approval of DTE Electric’s data center special contracts reflect the protections laid out in our contract filing – including ensuring our customers will not subsidize data center rates. We accepted those conditions. We plan to file a response to the Attorney General’s motion tomorrow (Feb. 6), reiterating our commitment to all our customers.”
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