Monopoly Utility Companies DTE, Consumers handed out nearly $500,000 to lawmakers in 2025

Campaign finance filings show the continued pervasiveness of utility money in politics, urgent need for reform

LANSING – The latest campaign finance filings with the state of Michigan, released at the beginning of February, show the state’s monopoly utilities, DTE and Consumers Energy, gave out nearly half a million dollars to state lawmakers last year, with DTE donating nearly $300,000 and Consumers more than $175,000.

That means that in 2025, yet again, the vast majority of Michigan’s 148 lawmakers took large sums of money from the very utilities they are charged with overseeing and regulating through policy.

“Last year’s campaign finance figures show once again that our state’s monopoly utilities continue to bend the state’s political will in their favor. While they make billions of dollars in profits, we pay higher and higher energy bills. Our bills are too damn high, and it’s time state leaders step up to rein in corporate utility greed,” said Alex Kellogg, energy accountability manager for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.  “Working Michigan families need a Ratepayer Bill of Rights to protect consumers from rising prices, poor service, unfair outage compensation practices, and excessive utility CEO compensation and perks.”

A deeper look at the data reveals that the pervasiveness of utility money in politics continues to be a bipartisan issue.  DTE, for example, gave both the Michigan Senate Democratic Fund and House Republican Campaign Committee $40,000 each last year. That money is in addition to thousands of dollars in direct contributions to individual lawmakers. 

DTE gave $7,000 to Michigan House Speaker and Republican Rep. Matt Hall (42nd District), for example – making him the top individual lawmaker recipient of DTE political donations last year.

Consumers continued to follow a similar strategy, with both the Democratic and Republican caucuses and many legislators receiving thousands of dollars throughout last year. 

Not surprisingly, lawmakers sitting on the state’s two energy committees overwhelmingly took money from DTE and Consumers. Twenty-five out of 30 lawmakers on the House and Senate Energy Committees took money from monopoly utility companies.  

At a time when skyrocketing energy costs are a growing concern for Michiganders, both utilities provide the most expensive service in the Midwest for some of the worst reliability in the country, according to numerous reports by the independent, non-partisan Citizens Utility Board. 

It’s important to note: The money included in this campaign finance report is just what is publicly reportable — as both DTE and Consumers also fund and run shadowy nonprofits that pour millions into lawmaker-aligned accounts that are not required to disclose their donors.

In 2022, a nonprofit linked to DTE spent close to $5 million, including on lobbying, advertising and contributions to funds associated with elected officials. A Consumers-funded nonprofit reported spending more than $4.5 million that same year on similar activities.

As of last spring, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters’ Digital Scorecard, which has always tracked and scored legislators on their environmental and democracy voting records, also began including how much money their lawmaker is taking from DTE and Consumers Energy (consisting of all publicly-reported campaign finance information and any verifiable dark money contributions).

Alongside updates to the Scorecard, Michigan LCV continues to urge lawmakers to accept our “No Utility Money Challenge,” and refuse political contributions and gifts from these monopoly utility companies so they can remain independent and stand with ratepayers.

A bi-partisan, bi-cameral group of 46 lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 election have signed onto the Challenge, for which lawmakers receive special designation on their Scorecards. 

Polling consistently shows an overwhelming majority of Michigan voters support banning political donations from regulated monopolies.

That’s why a broad coalition of organizations and Michiganders, including Michigan LCV, is leading a ballot initiative effort called Mop Up Michigan that would ban DTE and Consumers from donating to lawmakers by vote this fall. To learn more about that important initiative and how to sign the petition to get it on the ballot, visit www.mopupmichigan.org.