AG Nessel intervening as DTE looks to get approval for data center

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says she has filed a notice of intervention with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) as DTE is seeking two special contracts to service a data center.

Last week DTE filed an ex parte request for approval of two special contracts to provide electric service to a 1.4-gigawatt data center proposed to be built near Saline in Washtenaw County.

An ex parte request requires no public hearing, and no party is allowed to conduct discovery and file testimony for the Commission to review before deciding to approve the special contract, according to Nessel’s office.

The proposed data center customer is Green Chile Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation.

On Thursday Nessel announced she filed the notice of intervention, urging the MPSC to “treat the requests as a contested case and conduct public hearings on the matter, citing significant unknown details surrounding the project and the potential financial risks to utility ratepayers across DTE’s service territory.”

Nessel says a formal public hearing with discovery and filed testimony will “allow parties, such as the Attorney General, the opportunity to verify protections and cost reductions to customers proposed by the utility corporation and provide the Commission with a full evidentiary record to decide whether the special contract is prudent and reasonable.”

At the root of Nessel’s intervention is reducing electric bills and making energy affordable for Michiganders.

“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,” Nessel said in a statement.

In either scenario, she says, 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. A public hearing is the only way to ensure transparency, give customers all the facts, and confirm DTE’s proposal truly protects Michiganders before any approval is granted,” she said.

The proposed data center would be a 1.4-gigawatt facility, which she says “is similar to adding more than 1 million average American homes – or the size of a large city in DTE’s service territory.”

In response to a Consumers Energy ex parte request for a data center or large load tariff earlier in the year, the MPSC rejected the ex parte request and noted that “[t]he electric load of new data centers presents unique and significant cost implications, and the development of an evidentiary record to consider the February 7 application is prudent and reasonable,” according to Nessel’s office.

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