Now, if you made it this far, you are lucky enough to hear my rant.
Welcome to Inside the Box: Unplugged.
Part 2
First off, I am pissed off and you should be too, unless you are one of the 120 out of 148 Michigan lawmakers that are taking money from DTE and Consumers Energy (your money)… then you probably feel great.
81% of our Legislature is taking money from DTE and Consumers Energy. These two monopolies go to “our” government representatives and explain that they need to increase our utility bills. The MPSC reviews the requests and gives these two companies what they want.
Literal millions are donated to our lawmakers who set the rules the utility companies must follow. Michiganders pay the highest energy costs in the MidWest for some of the least reliable power in the US.
This is not a right vs left issue, it’s both sides. Please do not think it’s one or the other, that’s a distraction given to prevent us from uniting and actually changing something.
Here’s some of the culprits over just the past 6 months.
Which politicians? Both parties. Recent, on-the-record examples from DTE’s own Michigan PAC disclosure include checks to:
- Michigan Senate Democratic Fund ($10,000)
- Sen. Michael Webber (R) ($1,000)
- Rep. David Martin (R) ($250)
- Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D) ($500)
- Plus leadership funds like Nesbitt Majority Fund 2, and others on that sheet. Those are sample lines, not the full list.
There is dark money involved and a lot more to this messed up situation.
What the utilities actually earned (profit)
DTE Energy (parent company, all segments)
- 2022 net income: $1.083B
- 2023: $1.397B
- 2024: $1.404B
These are GAAP, straight from DTE’s 2024 annual report. Annual Reports
CMS Energy (parent of Consumers Energy)
- 2022 net income: $0.827B
- 2023: $0.877B
- 2024: $0.993B
See CMS’s 2024 annual filings and earnings materials. Q4 Capital+2CMS Energy+2
For more info on what you can do to help let your government politicians know that you’re mad as hell and you’re not going to take it anymore, go here https://www.michiganlcv.org/ . This site is where I got a lot of the stats I used when writing my rant. Check it out.