Big Utility Company CEOs earn bonuses for never-ending rate hikes, lax outage times

DTE and Consumers Energy asking to raise Michiganders’ energy while executives profit

LANSING – Big energy utility companies Consumers Energy and DTE Energy are yet again poised to seek more rate hikes on Michigan customers — their fourth and sixth consecutive year of doing so, respectively.

What hasn’t been covered by the media: the fact that CEOs and other executives at both regulated, monopoly utilities receive massive bonuses for maximizing rate increases on customers and for also meeting some of the most lax restoration outage times in the country.

The 2025 proxy report recently filed by DTE (see page 46) shows that the utility incentivizes executives to seek the highest rate increases possible. In fact, previous to the recent proxy report, only DTE Vice Chairman Trevor Lauer received bonus pay for milking customers during rate cases. Now, multiple executives get bonuses if they push for higher “return on equity” (ROEs), including CEO Jerry Norcia, CFO David Ruud and President/COO Joi Harris.

During the same years, an independent audit of Michigan’s two largest electric utilities faulted them for below-average service and glacial outage restoration times compared to peers in the Midwest; the power companies paid out bonuses to top executives based on that poor reliability track record. DTE’s 2025 proxy report extends lax outage bonuses to its executives (see page 43).

“Big utility CEOs are making hand-over-fist while we pay the highest energy costs in the Midwest for the worst reliability,” said Scott Holiday, executive director of Detroit Action. “Out-of-touch, corporate executives are making million-dollar bonuses for jacking up our rates — when will it end, and where are our lawmakers who are supposed to be overseeing them?”

“Our bills are too damn high, and it’s time we rein in this never-ending cycle of blatant corporate greed,” said Bob Allison, deputy director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “This is not a partisan issue, and Michiganders of all stripes are demanding our lawmakers stand up to DTE and Consumers executives, stop taking their money and start holding them accountable to us.”

Some other factoids and background:

• DTE Energy CEO Jerry Norcia received $12,592,002 in compensation in 2024, a 22.5% increase over his 2023 compensation of $10,278,098. (See page 50 of 2025 proxy report).

 

• According to an article recently published by MLive, Consumers Energy has hiked rates six times in the past six years, while DTE has increased rates four years in a row. Despite constant rate hikes, Michigan remains near the bottom of all states in terms of electric reliability from power outages with some of the highest residential energy costs in the country.

 

• Consumers Energy recently received approval to raise rates by $154 million in March, and DTE Energy raised rates by $217 million in January. Now, both utility companies have indicated they will be seeking rate increases again this year, with DTE in April and Consumers Energy likely in June.

 

• Utility spending on infrastructure projects is billed directly to customers, resulting in excessive returns for corporate shareholders.

 

• DTE is further pushing for even greater profits by setting a high return on equity (ROE) during rate cases. The higher ROE results in significantly higher profits across the utility industry — billions annually — than is warranted or necessary, imposing an undue burden on ratepayers, according to experts.

 

• Consumer watchdogs and the City of Ann Arbor have fought to reduce the DTE’s ROE, yet the utility has only increased its efforts to drive up returns for its shareholders.

 

Read this fact sheet for more information about DTE’s rate hike process.