Consumers Energy residential electric bills to increase by 6.1 percent in May
State of Michigan officials have approved an electricity rate hike for Consumers Energy that will add an average of $6.46 to residential monthly bills.
The Michigan Public Service Commission made the rate hike announcement on Friday, relating its decision to approve a $276 million, or 6.1% rate hike, effective May 1. Last year's rate hike was 2.8%.
For a typical residential customer who uses about 500 kilowatt hours a month, the 2026 rate hike will result in an increase of $6.46 in monthly bills.
The Consumers Energy service area includes much of mid-Michigan and part of Southeast Michigan. The company has about 1.9 million electricity customers and about 1.8 million natural gas customers.
This increase is about 40% lower than Consumers Energy's original request, state officials said. Consumers Energy filed its intention to bump up the rates in 2026 in March 2025, seven days after the last increase was approved, and the full application explained the details.
The Michigan Public Service Commission said that the rate increase supports the utility's efforts to make its power grid more reliable, noting that 93% of its customers who experienced power outages had their electricity restored within 24 hours during 2024. This ratio was up from 87% restoration within 24 hours in 2023.
"Consumers Energy customers will once again have to brace for higher bills because of the never-ending cycle of rate hikes passed on by the utility," said Michigan Attorney General Nessel in a statement. "Unfortunately, this is something we have become accustomed to. Even though my office carefully reviews DTE and Consumers Energy rate hike requests for bloated and unjustified costs, it is ultimately the MPSC who determines how much to approve or how often these rate hikes occur. This process continues to place the burden on ratepayers and demands greater accountability to ensure Michiganders receive the affordability and reliability they deserve. I urge our elected leaders of both parties to reconsider this badly broken system. It's both unfair and unsustainable for our state."
Consumers Energy also had reduced the average number of outage minutes per customer by 52.6 minutes between 2019 and 2024, state officials said.
The Michigan Public Service Commission says the average monthly electric bill for Michigan residents during 2024 was $119.31, which is below the national average of $142.15.
