In 2023, DTE required almost 50,000 of its electric customers to pay their monthly bills in cash. The Company imposes this requirement on customers who bounce checks or have other forms of payment declined.

Local governments are concerned with this practice because paying by cash may be inconvenient for elderly, vulnerable and low-income customers, and in many cases it may be unsafe for them to carry large sums of cash to DTE offices and payment agents. MI-MAUI agrees that DTE should do what it reasonably can to limit losses from uncollectible accounts, which DTE can recover by raising rates on other customers; but doubts that making it harder for customers to pay their bills will result in improved collections.

In DTE Electric rate case U-21534, currently pending before the MPSC, MI-MAUI has argued that this practice is not allowed under the MPSC’s billing rules for utilities and should either be abolished or strictly limited. See https://www.mlive.com/environment/2024/08/12-months-of-inconvenience-dte-forces-thousands-to-pay-power-bills-only-in-cash.html.