DETROIT – Michigan lawmakers are escalating calls for utility accountability after another stretch of high summer bills and storm-related outages, rolling out competing plans they say would protect ratepayers and force improvements in reliability.
Democrats are pushing a three-bill package, known as the “Ratepayer Bill of Rights,” while House Republicans say they already passed their own plan out of the House and want to steer state energy policy toward affordability and reliability.
The debate comes as customers across southeast Michigan continue to question what they are paying for when service disruptions drag on for days.
State Rep. Erin Byrnes, a Democrat who represents Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, is sponsoring legislation she says would prevent utilities from using ratepayer dollars on expenses that are not tied to the electric grid and infrastructure.
“We’re calling it the No Lavish Lifestyles Bill,” Byrnes said. “What we discovered is that as recently as 2022, DTE spent around a quarter of a million dollars on private jet flights for CEO, shareholders, white-collar employees, and that was just in one year. And again, that’s customer money.”
Byrnes said her bill would prohibit spending on items like private jet travel and corporate suites at entertainment venues.
The lawmaker said the proposal is part of a broader package that also includes a requirement for independent, third-party engineering audits every five years, with findings published for the public.
A third bill in the package would cap utilities’ return on equity at 8.2 percent, with any amount above that returned to customers, she said.
“This is a bipartisan issue, and it’s a quality-of-life issue,” Byrnes said, describing the anxiety of losing power and wondering whether another refrigerator full of groceries will have to be thrown out. She also called the latest push for additional rate increases “tone deaf” given the economy and the rising cost of everyday necessities.
House Republicans say they share concerns about rising costs and long outages, but argue their approach would deliver relief through different mechanisms.
State Rep. Mike Harris, a Republican who represents portions of Oakland County, said lawmakers have been talking to voters about two pressures that keep coming up: property taxes and energy costs.
“I think there is a bipartisan support for addressing some of the high energy costs that consumers are paying and the extended outages that we’re seeing across Michigan,” Harris said.
One Republican plan is tied to personal property taxes and would force utilities to roll back at least $1 billion in savings into residential rates. He said the change would “erase the last three years worth of energy increases” for many customers.
Harris also described a Republican rewrite of the state’s energy plan that would add accountability and require the Michigan Public Service Commission to consider what he called the “true cost” of different energy sources, including backup generation, storage and long-delayed grid upgrades. Harris said Republicans also want to repeal Michigan’s 2023 green energy mandates, arguing the shift would help refocus planning on affordability and reliability.
The political fight is unfolding alongside continuing frustration from customers who say the cost of service does not match the experience, especially after major weather events.
Detroit resident Lloyd Vaughn said he was shocked by a bill that arrived after the power went out.
“This was a lot,” Vaughn said. “This was lot for the power to be down.”
Vaughn said power stayed on during part of the storm but went out afterward. He said he was initially told restoration could take three to four days. He described the difficulty of going without power in muggy summer weather, including charging phones, keeping cool and simply being able to relax at home after work.
In Dearborn, resident Alex Hamze said his family lost heat for nearly a week last winter and felt they were not getting what they paid for.
“Extremely, extremely,” Hamze said when asked how it felt. He said he believes utilities operate like a monopoly and said many customers are “very angry and upset.”
The state’s largest utilities pushed back on the legislation and the claims made by sponsors.
In a statement, DTE said it recognizes that bill increases are significant for customers and said it is focused on delivering value through improved reliability, cleaner energy, helping vulnerable customers and efforts to keep bills as low as possible.
DTE pointed to progress following recent investments, saying the July storm demonstrated that “portions of the system where we’ve been able to invest proved more resilient.” The company said that from 2023 to 2025 its outage duration improved by 90%, and across the five storms prior to July 2026 it restored an average of 97% of customers within 24 hours and nearly 100% within 48 hours.
DTE added that it reviews performance after every major storm “for lessons learned” as it works to build a stronger, more resilient grid.
Consumers Energy rejected the premise of the legislation more directly.
“These bills are littered with inaccurate and blatantly false claims that distract from the real priorities, improving reliability and affordability for Michigan customers,” Consumers said in a statement. “Michiganders are struggling, and these bills will increase costs when they can least afford it.”
Consumers also addressed return on equity, calling it an issue that has been subject to “misinformation.” The company said ROE helps attract lower-cost investment needed to maintain and modernize Michigan’s energy system, arguing that in states with lower ROE, costs to customers can rise to fund reliability projects.
The company also disputed any suggestion that customer rates pay for political activity.
The bills would apply broadly to energy providers in Michigan. The legislation is expected to be debated in Lansing as lawmakers weigh whether new limits, audits and financial rules would reduce costs for customers, or, as utilities argue, make reliability upgrades harder and more expensive.