By Kyle Davidson, Michigan Advance
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Thursday filed a notice with state energy regulators intervening in DTE Energy’s request to approve two contracts allowing them to supply power to a data center under development in Saline Township.
Last week, DTE filed an ex-parte request with the Michigan Public Service Commission, which provides oversight to the state’s energy utilities, seeking approval to provide 1.4 gigawatts of power to the OpenAI facility. Nessel’s office noted that this type of request does not carry public hearing requirements, and no party is allowed to conduct discovery and file testimony for the commission to review before making its decision on the contracts.
While the energy company assured that the new data center would absorb all new costs associated with supplying power to the facility, painting the project as a benefit for customer affordability, Nessel has asked the commission to treat the matter as a contested case, citing a lack of clarity in the company’s plan to protect ratepayers from facing additional costs.
“Reducing electric bills and making energy affordable is essential,” Nessel said in a statement. “That’s why I’m asking the Commission to hold a public hearing on this case – to make sure DTE customers are not stuck footing the bill for a data center that never comes to fruition or uses far less electricity than projected. In either scenario, the massive costs of building the data center won’t just disappear. The costs would be passed on to ratepayers, driving up bills for families.”
Nessel said a public hearing was the only way to ensure transparency in the process as well as confirm the details of DTE’s proposal before approval is granted.
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