Mapped: How Metro Detroit electric bills stack up
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DTE Energy workers repair utility poles during a snowstorm power outage in Detroit in 2022. Photo: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Wayne County residents spend an estimated average of $131 per month on their home electric bills, per an Axios analysis of data collected and shared by climate newsroom Heatmap News.
Why it matters: Tensions over rising energy bills and power-hungry AI data centers are emerging as a key political issue nationwide and should be a potent force in this year's midterms.
- Other forms of energy are also adding pressure to Americans' expense lists, like auto gas price hikes amid the Iran war — though the ceasefire deal could potentially lead to some relief.
- Metro Detroit's regular gas price average was $3.91 on Monday, up about 33 cents from a month ago, per AAA.
By the numbers: Wayne County's electric bills average the same as Macomb County's and are just cents off from Oakland's.
- They're under the American average of $158 a month, and dramatically lower than places like San Francisco County, California, which averaged $282.
Zoom out: Counties in Alabama and Texas dominate the top of the most-expensive list, broadly speaking.
- Alabama's electric bills are relatively steep, partially due to higher consumption, per local news outlet WBRC. Experts also cite the state's rate structure.
Yes, but: Even though they're at the lower end nationally, Metro Detroit's energy costs stack up.
- Detroiters have higher utility bills because of the city's old housing stock, often creating extra challenges for low-income homeowners and seniors on fixed incomes, per a U of M researcher.
- As of 2020, a quarter of low-income Metro Detroit residents spent above 19% of their income on home energy bills, per the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Anything above 10% is considered a "severe energy burden."
State of play: The Michigan Public Service Commission approved a 4.6% rate hike in February for DTE Energy electric customers, according to the Detroit News.
- DTE says it's been increasing reliability, and that the increase will fund system upgrades.
- State Attorney General Dana Nessel has raised concerns over what she called a "never-ending cycle of rate hikes" to fund "costly capital projects" over investments to reduce outages.
How it worked: To create the electric bill average map, Heatmap News provided Axios with a dataset of average electrical bills by utility company, which Axios analyzed and mapped, using data from HUD and others to create county-level averages.
What we're watching: Whether efforts across the country to contain energy prices — like forcing tech companies to foot the bill for their AI power needs — actually work.