DTE Energy has floated a two-year electric rate freeze to begin after the utility’s current case concludes, but says the freeze is contingent on a 1.4 GW Oracle data center beginning operations as expected and other regulatory approvals.
“As long as the first data center project DTE is supporting comes online as planned by the end of 2027 and the company receives other regulatory approvals, DTE plans to refrain from filing another electric rate request until at least 2028,” the utility said in its July 28 second quarter earnings announcement.
DTE filed a more than $470 million electric rate case with the Michigan Public Service Commission in April.
The Oracle data center “remains on track, fully approved and under construction,” DTE President and CEO Joi Harris said in a Tuesday call with analysts. And contracts to serve a 1 GW Google data center have been submitted to Michigan regulators for approval, she said.
Along with the 2.4 GW of executed agreements with data centers, DTE has 2 GW in advanced discussions, with agreements targeted by the end of the year, and an additional pipeline of 3-4 GW. That figure is unchanged since the company’s first-quarter earnings report.
DTE’s 2026-2030 capital investment plan for its electric operations also remained unchanged from the first quarter, at $30 billion, though it is a 22% increase over the 2025-2029 prior plan of $24 billion.
The $6 billion increase is “primarily driven by [the] Oracle data center project and other customer-focused initiatives,” according to DTE’s earnings presentation.
“Our pipeline continues to advance with ongoing discussions that position us well for future growth,” Harris said. “As these projects move forward, they will deliver meaningful affordability benefits for our existing customers, absorbing a significant portion of fixed system costs.”
The utility filed its distribution system plan in April, outlining a five-year plan to improve reliability and grid modernization, and plans to file its next integrated resource plan “later this quarter, which will provide a clear path to meet long-term generation and capacity needs,” Harris said.
Year-to-date earnings performance “keeps us on track to reach the high end” of operating earnings per share guidance this year, “and we are confident in our long-term operating EPS growth rate target of 6%-8% through 2030,” Harris. “We continue to see a clear path to achieving the high end of our guidance range each year, driven by [renewable natural gas] tax credits and the flexibility they provide.”
