Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Monthly natural gas bills for Consumers Energy customers are going up again, beginning in November. The Michigan Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a $157 million rate hike for residential customers.

Customers' monthly bills will rise by an average of $6.44, or 8.1%.

Consumers Energy originally requested a rate increase of $248 million in December 2024 but later revised it to $217 million. The increase approved Tuesday carries a return on common equity of 9.8% and an overall rate of return of 5.99%.

Attorney General Dana Nessel's office said in a release Tuesday that she urged the MPSC to reduce the rate hike to $75.5 million.

“It is disappointing that the MPSC approved a rate hike far above not only my office’s recommendation, but even beyond its own judge’s finding that only $142 million was justified,” Nessel said.

Nessel also filed testimony Tuesday in Consumers Energy’s latest electric rate case before the MPSC, recommending a reduction of 64% to the company’s proposed rate increase - seeking to save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Consumers Energy filed its request with the MPSC in May seeking to hike rates by $436 million just two months after the MPSC approved a $154 million rate hike in March.

The request marks the largest electric rate hike Consumers Energy has proposed during Attorney General Nessel’s time in office and is likely the largest in decades.

In addition to the latest proposed annual rate hike, Consumers Energy is also aiming to recover from their bill-paying customers an additional $24 million in deferred distribution costs through a separate 12-month surcharge.

The rate hike alone would increase overall rates by 9.2% and hike household rates by 13.3%. Attorney General Nessel has urged the MSPC to slash the rate hike down to no more than 3.5% overall.

“Time and again, Consumers Energy comes to the MSPC demanding outrageous rate hikes - and time and again, my office intervenes to protect Michigan families,” Nessel said.

“After combing through this massive electric rate hike request line by line, we have found nearly two-thirds of it to be overstated, unjustified, and flat-out unfair to its customers. Michigan families are already being squeezed by higher costs at every turn, and they should not be forced to bankroll a for-profit corporation’s excessive demands.”