Billing Rules in Michigan

The Michigan Public Service Commission has ordered two affiliated energy utilities, DTE Electric Company and DTE Gas Company, to provide evidence that they did not violate established and tariffed billing rules when they converted to a new billing system.

The commission related that after the new system was installed, it received numerous complaints from customers about improper power shutoffs. Under the ruling, the DTE companies must explain the extent and nature of any improperly shutoff service since January of 2017. The utilities had filed an initial report earlier this year about customer issues associated with the launch of their SAP C360 billing system in April of 2017. A week after filing that preliminary report, the DTE companies said they had identified a potential error regarding notice procedures for terminations of service for nonpayment, which had caused about 5,000 customers out of 9,000 shutoffs to lose service without proper notification under statutory billing rules.

While DTE attested that service to all 9,000 affected customers had been restored, the commission ordered a hearing on the matter. It stated that it was not confident that the problems identified so far have been resolved and that it remains concerned that additional shutoffs in violation of the commission’s billing rules may occur. The commission added that unlawful disconnections of service are of particular concern during the winter months when a shutoff of utility service could jeopardize the health and well-being of the utility’s many customers. (Case No. U-20084)