SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — The cost to heat your home in Southeast Michigan could be going up, with Consumers Energy requesting a rate hike for natural gas next year.
The plans submitted to the state of Michigan this week request an additional $248 million from customers, which could cost the average household roughly $117 more per year.
Consumers Energy spokesperson Brian Wheeler talks more about the request in the video player below:
Consumers has 1.8 million natural gas customers in the state, more than half of which are in Southeast Michigan.
“It's just frustrating having to deal with the bills coming on," Consumers customer Matthew Inskeep of Clinton Township said. "The cost of living has just been going up and up and up and up.”
“It's ridiculous. It’s high enough," another Consumers customer, Carey Mcdaniel from Southfield, said. "Food, everything is going up. When are we going to get a break?”
Consumers says the additional $248 million will be spent to replace 10,000 old service lines, reduce the risk of leaks and install remote controlled valves throughout the system.
“We really try our best to make sure that we’re making improvements to make the system strong, dependable and safe,” Consumers Energy spokesperson Brian Wheeler said. “We talk about a safe and reliable system, but we also have to make it affordable for the people who count on us.”
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Wheeler says the company tries to keep their increases to inflation or less and says the total cost for customers would still be under $3 per day after the increase. The rate hike wouldn’t take effect until October of 2025.
“We at Consumers Energy are acutely sensitive to the impact on our customers and we’re trying to be as reasonable as we can to make sure we have a 21st Century systems at a rate people can afford,” Wheeler said.
However, customers still aren't happy to hear of the increase.
“In one sense, I understand it, but in the other sense, it’s just sort of the cost of doing business and making sure your product can meet the standards of what we need,” Inskeep said. "As a business owner myself, sometimes, we have to eat those costs and it's unfortunate when you have to pass that on to the consumer.”
The request still has to be approved by the Michigan Public Services Commission, which will hold a public hearing on the increase soon, but a date has not yet been set.
