DTE customers brace for rate changes coming in March
(CBS DETROIT) – Starting next month, you'll have to keep an eye on the clock whenever you want to use some appliances.
DTE Energy is rolling out new rates that they believe will change customers' habits.
"When you are on a fixed income, there is not a whole lot you could do, you know," Lachrisa Sullivan, a DTE customer, said.
It's an adjustment that Sullivan and more than two million customers are gearing up for.
All in an effort to lower the demand on the power grid.
"They're a way to give customers more control in terms of taking advantage of cheaper, cheaper rates, and also allows us to even out peaks in demand and make energy more affordable to generate," Angie Pizzuti, VP and Chief Customer Officer at DTE Energy/
Starting in March, peak hour rates will be Monday through Friday from 3 to 7 p.m., split into two different rates during the year.
From October through May, customers will pay 16.75 cents per kilowatt hour. Then June through September, the rate goes up to 20.98 cents per kilowatt hour.
At any other time, including weekends, it's 15.45 cents per kilowatt hour.
"There's a lot of things customers can do to just simple things they can do to help utilize more energy off-peak, for instance, you know, running their dishwasher, off-peak, running their washing machine off-peak, their dryer off-peak, and then one of the biggest sources of energy is using a programmable thermostat to pre-cool their home before 3pm. In the summer," Pizzuti said.
The new pricing structure comes at the direction of the Michigan Public Service Commission.
"The utilities aren't going to make any more money or any less money as a result of this program; the way that customers pay may shift a little bit," Dan Scripps, Chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, told CBS News Detroit.
As of now, the changes only apply to residential customers.
"I understand that there are some uses, including medical equipment as the best example, but also people working from home that are using their laptops or their medical equipment and don't have as much flexibility. But for other uses, I still think that there are opportunities to shift those uses outside of the peak hours and to save some money in the process," Scripps said.
.Customers wish they would have more of a say in the process.
"They should have gotten in touch with the people before they did all of this year. They should've gotten our approval," Roger, a DTE customer, said
There another utility company, Consumers Energy, has already introduced this pricing structure to its customers.
"That's not fair, especially to work in families. Everything else is already going up eggs already $10, milk–$5. It's unfair," Shonethia Perkins, another DTE customer, said.
