AG Nessel Files Reply Calling for Full Public Hearings on DTE’s Data Center Application

LANSING – Yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a reply (PDF) to DTE's response to her notice of intervention before the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) in the case regarding DTE’s ex parte application for approval of two special contracts to service a 1.4-gigawatt data center in Saline Township. In her notice of intervention, the Attorney General urged the MPSC to treat DTE’s requests as a contested case and conduct a full proceeding, citing significant unknown details surrounding the project and the potential financial risks to utility ratepayers across DTE’s service territory. Despite DTE’s response, Attorney General Nessel contends that many concerns remain unresolved and unanswered, including issues the MPSC has highlighted in prior cases. 

“DTE continues to push for a rubber-stamp approval of a secret deal, but time and again, my office has contested their filings – and time after time, the utility has shown it is not a trustworthy partner, routinely filling cases with unjustified costs,” Nessel said. “We must be able to scrutinize DTE's ability to sell this massive amount of electricity without negatively impacting residents. No matter how DTE tries to explain it away, this case – involving hundreds of millions of dollars in costs just to connect the data center to DTE’s power grid – should be treated as contested like any other, and their customers have made it overwhelmingly clear that they too want full public hearings.”   

The reply outlines several critical deficiencies in DTE’s ex parte request, including the utility’s: 

• Failure to detail all resources required to provide power to the data center, and how the data center will pay for those resources, despite a requirement by the MPSC for large customers to do so per its Order in Consumers Energy’s recent data center case; 
• Failure to implement terms required by the Commission in Consumers Energy’s recent data center case; 
• Failure to explain whether and how termination fee provisions from the contracts will apply in the near-term to cover costs; 
• Insufficient explanation of ratepayer impacts; and 
• Unjustified redactions and rushed deadlines. 

An ex parte request does not allow the Attorney General or other parties to conduct discovery or file testimony for the Commission to review before deciding to approve the special contract. A formal proceeding with discovery and filed testimony would allow parties, such as the Attorney General, the opportunity to verify protections to customers proposed by the utility and provide the Commission with a full evidentiary record to decide whether the special contract is prudent and reasonable. The MPSC is scheduled to meet formally on December 5, which is the date by which DTE has requested these special contracts be approved.   

Since taking office, the Attorney General has helped save Michigan consumers more than $4 billion by intervening in utility cases before the MPSC. The Attorney Geneal’s request for a full proceeding in this case reaffirms her commitment to affordable energy for consumers.