Consumers Energy plans another gas rate hike request four days after regulators approved a $139 million increase

JACKSON, Mich. — Consumers Energy has signaled it will ask for yet another natural gas rate increase, coming just four days after state regulators at the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a $139 million hike that hasn’t yet reached customers’ bills.

The Jackson-based utility filed a formal “filing announcement” on Monday, Oct. 19, signaling a new gas rate case that is likely to be filed in December, according to Attorney General Dana Nessel, whose office said it will intervene on behalf of customers. The amount Consumers will seek has not been made public.

What is already coming. On Oct. 15 the commission approved a gas rate increase of $139,176,000 a year, more than 42% below the $240 million Consumers had requested. A typical home using 75 ccf of gas a month will pay $3.92 more, an increase of 4.33%, starting Nov. 1, the commission said. Regulators set the company’s return on equity, its allowed profit on investment, at 9.8%.

The commission approved $207 million of the $234.2 million Consumers sought to replace gas mains most at risk of leaks, plus $66.3 million for leak detection and repair. It threw out more than $7.9 million for transmission pipeline integrity work, citing “a pattern of over-projecting of costs and under-spending” on that program, and also rejected storage pipeline costs it found premature and a customer service tracker for which the company didn’t show savings.

The attorney general’s complaint. “Consumers Energy was approved for a new natural gas rate hike just last week, and before a single new dollar could be spent, they’ve announced their next rate hike,” Nessel said in a statement. She said utilities employ teams to prepare one rate request after another “and their bill paying customers pay all the costs to craft these massive proposals,” and that her office has asked regulators to make the companies track those costs.

The company’s answer. A Consumers spokesperson told WNEM the utility’s gas rate fell from $11.90 per Mcf in 2022 to $11.03 in 2025, about 7%, and that it “files smaller rate requests rather than waiting several years, when larger increases can be harder for customers.” The company pointed customers to its money-saving and bill-assistance programs.

What it means for you. Consumers sells natural gas to about 1.8 million Michigan customers and electricity to about 1.9 million. The new rates take effect Nov. 1, as heating season begins. Any new increase would come only after a separate case before the commission, where the attorney general and other groups can challenge the company’s costs and the public can comment. Consumers also has an electric rate request pending (Case U-22070), as do DTE Electric (U-22046) and Upper Peninsula Power Co. (U-22032), according to Nessel’s office. Case files and public comments are on the commission’s e-dockets site.

Sources:
Michigan Department of Attorney General, “Consumers Energy Announces New Natural Gas Rate Hike Case, Four Days After MPSC Approved $139 Million Hike,” Oct. 20, 2026, https://www.michigan.gov/ag/news/press-releases/2026/10/20/consumers-energy-announces-new-natural-gas-rate-hike-case
Michigan Public Service Commission, “Commission approves continued investments in safety for Consumers Energy’s natural gas system” (Case U-21981), Oct. 15, 2026, https://www.michigan.gov/mpsc/commission/news-releases/2026/10/15/mpsc-approves-continued-safety-investments-for-consumers-natural-gas-system
WNEM, “Consumers Energy plans to seek another rate hike” (company statement), Oct. 20, 2026, https://www.wnem.com/2026/10/20/consumers-energy-plans-seek-another-rate-hike/
Michigan Public Service Commission e-dockets, https://mi-psc.my.site.com/s/
Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture, “Consumers Energy Headquarters, Jackson, Michigan.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Consumers_Energy_Headquarters,_Jackson,_Michigan.jpg

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Tags: Jackson · Consumers Energy · Utility Rates · Natural Gas · MPSC · Attorney General