November 9, 2023 - Today, the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a Sierra Club settlement with Michigan’s largest utility, DTE, that will double investment in weatherization and other energy efficiency measures in energy-burdened communities. As a result of a prior settlement with Sierra Club, DTE began implementing a “geographic targeting” program that directs energy efficiency measures to neighborhoods with the highest energy burdens and other indicators of need. These neighborhoods largely overlap with majority Black areas where a legacy of racist housing policies led to underinvestment in the housing stock. In addition to doubling the budget for this program, the new settlement will require DTE to improve customer outreach and leverage external funding for the targeted neighborhoods. It will also require DTE to collect and report detailed data on the program that will help inform best practices for a model “neighborhood approach.” In keeping with Sierra Club’s climate goals, the neighborhood program will prioritize weatherization over gas appliance replacements. It will also dedicate funds for the home repairs that are often necessary before energy efficiency upgrades can be implemented.
In the settlement, DTE also agrees to engage with Michigan’s state energy office as it creates an implementation plan for the Inflation Reduction Act’s home weatherization and electrification rebate programs. Echoing Sierra Club’s goals for the programs, DTE will urge the state to prioritize low-income households, streamline eligibility requirements, and make it easy for all households to combine different sources of funding for home energy upgrades through a one-stop-shop.
Another highlight of the settlement is a performance incentive that will push DTE to fund measures that meaningfully reduce both energy bills and climate pollution, such as electric heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and air sealing/insulation (i.e., weatherization), as opposed to gas furnaces, gas water heaters, or minor measures such as light bulbs.
This settlement comes as Sierra Club’s Michigan field staff are fiercely advocating for a clean energy package of legislation that would make permanent similar requirements to implement low-income energy efficiency and whole-home retrofits, with an emphasis on zero-emission technologies such as heat pumps.
Sierra Club was represented by Elena Saxonhouse of the Sierra Club Environmental Law Program, as well as outside counsel at Earthjustice and Troposphere Legal. Sierra Club’s co-intervenors in the docket include Natural Resources Defense Council, Ecology Center, and National Housing Trust.