The City Council is unable to pause natural gas and electricity shutoffs during freezing winter months, according to a memo from its Legislative Policy Division.
While the mayor or council could issue temporary moratoriums on city-regulated activities like water shutoffs, only the Michigan Public Service Commission has authority over residential natural gas and electricity disconnections.
The memo requested by City Council Member Angela Whitfield-Calloway comes as the state commission considers changes to extreme weather policies that haven’t been updated since 2018.
Whitfield-Calloway declined to comment on her memo after Tuesday’s meeting. Environmental groups are advocating for a guaranteed delay of shutoffs during the hottest and coldest months of each year. Energy utilities have largely argued against blanket shutoff moratoriums.
The current state policy requires energy utilities to submit a policy for suspending shutoffs during extreme hot and cold weather, but the state doesn’t impose specific rules. Last year, the MPSC asked for input on whether utilities should be banned from shutting off power during and after heat or cold advisories, among other possible improvements.
Advocacy groups argue state regulators offer too much flexibility, pointing to inconsistency between two companies that provide electricity to more than 80% percent of the state’s electric customers.
DTE Energy’s policy is to suspend shutoffs when temperatures are forecast to reach 90 degrees or above, 15 degrees or below, or windchills below 0 degrees for two consecutive days. Consumers Energy delays shutoffs when temperatures are actually recorded at those levels.
A coalition of environmental organizations, including Soulardarity in Highland Park advocated for extending moratoriums at least 24 hours before and after extreme weather is expected. DTE argued against mandatory shutoff delays that continue after peak weather conditions.
“DTE is a strong advocate of protecting our customers during extreme weather events,” the company wrote in a September 2025 response to the MPSCD. “However, once the extreme event has passed, normal operations should resume the following business day, as customer health would no longer be a concern.”
Advocacy groups like the Environmental Law and Policy Center have pushed for an automatic ban on shutoffs during the hottest and coldest months, potentially using three-year temperature averages.
Consumers Energy argued that historic temperature data isn’t a guarantee of future temperatures. The company would rather continuously monitor the weather to suspend disconnections “without overextending these protections.”
Soulardarity recommended the state perform a disparity analysis to see the impact on low-income and minority ratepayers. The Environmental Law and Policy Center pointed to research suggesting the rate of power disconnections in a zip code increases along with its percentage of non-white residents.
DTE told the state commission that shutoffs are “applied uniformly and without bias,” based solely on objective criteria like account status and payment history.
National Weather Service records show temperatures dropped to -10 degrees on Jan. 24. Southeast Michigan was under a cold weather advisory Monday, with dangerously cold wind chills expected. Historic data shows the last two weeks were colder than average for January.
Amanda Passage, corporate communications manager for DTE, said Tuesday that shutoffs have been paused all of last week and also this week.
“When severe weather persists, we take additional steps above and beyond state requirements to help vulnerable customers stay safe and warm,” Passage said in an email. “This includes providing service restorations for both electric and gas for low-income and senior customers whose service may have previously been disconnected for nonpayment.”
DTE uses forecasts from The Weather Channel, which predict a full upcoming week of low temperatures below 15 degrees.
State law provides some automatic protection from gas and electric shutoffs from Nov. 1 through March 31, but the program is only available to seniors and low-income residents.
Michigan’s Winter Protection Plan allows low-income customers to avoid shutoffs from Nov. 1 through March 31 by making monthly payments equal to 7% of their estimated annual bill. Customers must pay off any money owed in installments between April and the following November.
Customers can contact DTE to sign up for the Winter Protection Plan and learn more about other payment plans.
State Rep. Tonya Myers Phillips, D-Detroit, sponsored legislation last year that would require energy providers to automatically enroll seniors and households with children in a winter protection program. HB-5047 hasn’t received a vote since it was introduced last September.
“Existing assistance programs are inadequate to keep everyone safe during Michigan’s harsh winters,” she said in an email. “No child should have to find warmth in a car, and no family should be forced into a shelter to keep warm because of steadily rising energy costs. And no one should have to bear the pain of losing loved ones to an accidental fire caused by trying to desperately heat a home.”
DTE suspended shutoffs for low-income residents with delinquent bills for three months in 2020, recognizing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shutoffs dramatically spiked in the following year.
An investigation by Outlier Media and ProPublica found power shutoffs more than doubled in 2021. The City Council unsuccessfully urged DTE to restore the self-imposed shutoff moratorium in 2022.
The State of Michigan is the sole regulator of private utility companies like DTE Energy. It’s another result of state preemption laws that block local regulation. Detroit officials have been similarly stymied by state preemption on the minimum wage, for example.