Consumers Energy Co electricity rates

It serves 1.7 million residential customers, making it one of the larger utilities in Michigan. At 19.11¢ per kilowatt-hour it is one of the cheaper places to buy electricity in Michigan, 13.2% under the statewide average of 22.01¢.

Consumption here is below the national norm at 628 kilowatt-hours a month against 871, which softens the effect of the rate on the final bill.

A shareholder-owned company whose rates are set by the state regulator, including an approved return on the capital it has invested. That matters because a bill is not only the cost of generating electricity: it also carries the cost of the network, and who owns that network changes how it is paid for.

In 2024 the average Consumers Energy Co customer went 503 minutes without electricity across 1.32 interruptions. The median across the 941 utilities that report this is 185 minutes.

That is far worse than typical, and figures at this level almost always reflect a major storm season rather than everyday performance. A single hurricane or ice storm can dominate the annual number.

Consumers Energy Co offers time-of-use pricing and critical peak pricing to residential customers. 1,642,369 households were enrolled, about 99.1% of its residential base.

These plans are opt-in almost everywhere. They reward households that can move laundry, dishwashing, water heating or electric vehicle charging out of the late-afternoon peak, and they cost more than the standard rate for households that cannot. How to tell which group you are in.

10,672 residential customers had net-metered solar in 2024, totalling 84.68 megawatts. That works out to 6.4 installations per thousand customers, against a median of 8 across the utilities reporting it.

Adoption is below the national median. A low retail rate reduces what solar displaces, and export compensation set at avoided cost rather than the retail rate reduces it further. What exports are actually worth.