After years of power outages and high electricity bills, Ann Arbor residents are pushing for an initiative to replace DTE Energy with a city-managed energy source. On Sept. 2, Ann Arbor for Public Power announced plans to draft a ballot proposal for theNovember 2026 election that would further the process of converting Ann Arbor’s privatized power supply through DTE to a public, municipal one. 

While local policymakers are still discussing the proposal’s exact language, according to the Sept. 2 press release, the proposal would create a public utility board in Ann Arbor to oversee the potential change to the city’s energy supply.  The proposal also plans for the purchase of DTE’s power lines and a shift in energy sources from fossil fuel-using power plants to solar and wind farms. Ann Arbor for Public Power needs 5,000 signatures to put the proposal.

The board would set prices, offer assistance for low-income households and decide on climate-related goals, according to the press release. The board would also initially fund a feasibility study to determine the exact value of the equipment the city would purchase from DTE, and could begin its work in 2027 or 2028. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Sean Higgins, member of Ann Arbor for Public Power, said after the feasibility study, the city of Ann Arbor and DTE would contest the price of acquisition in court before city residents vote on the purchase in a future election.

“The length of these types of court cases has varied, but from what I’ve read, it seems to be on the scale of two years, maybe three,” Higgins said. “Following that, the city would put a decision to actually make this purchase and start running a utility on the ballot with that exact number to the citizens of Ann Arbor. … If that vote passes by 60%, then Ann Arbor can take control of this infrastructure and start running a utility.”

In an interview with The Daily, Brian Geiringer, executive director of Ann Arbor for Public Power, said the organization plans to buy all of its energy from renewable sources outside of the city. Ann Arbor residents will soon also have the option to opt in to the city’s ongoing Sustainable Energy Utility, which will supplement the energy they receive from DTE with renewable energy and allows them to use that power when DTE experiences outages. 

“The Ann Arbor for Public Power proposal is to have all our electricity renewable as soon as possible, but it wouldn’t be created here,” Geiringer said. “It would be that, by taking over the poles and wires from DTE, Ann Arbor becomes a buyer on the energy market — on the grid — and can then purchase and hopefully incentivize renewable energy creation. So that’s the real climate dream — to have Ann Arbor tell the energy economy in the region we are ready to buy all this renewable energy if you make it.”

In an interview with The Daily, LSA junior Victoria Jacobs, president of Students for Clean Energy, said an increase in energy demand requires an increased investment in renewable energy.

“With our increasing tech and increasing population, energy demand is only going to go up,” Jacobs said. “So if we want to avoid exacerbating climate change — extreme weather patterns, global extinction of species, a decline in biodiversity — I know renewables is the only way to go. … Because Ann Arbor is such an integral city in the United States for technology innovation, I think this is exactly the place to jump-start that.”

In an email to The Daily, LSA senior Fiona Dunlop, an Ann Arbor for Public Power volunteer, criticized DTE for not making more of an effort to transition to renewable sources of energy, noting that only 13% of DTE’s electricity is renewably sourced.

“DTE has all the money and all the power in the world to make meaningful, climate-friendly change now (after all, they are a monopoly in Southeast Michigan, so if they wanted to make big changes, they could),” Dunlop wrote. “But we are not seeing that. On the contrary, only about 13% of DTE’s electricity comes from renewable energy, and we’re not seeing any fast changes on that front.”

Geiringer cites DTE’s proposed $574 million rate increase as a reason for increased support for public energy. He estimates that buying out DTE would be financially beneficial for Ann Arbor in the future.

“After 30 years, this will only be more and more of a cash cow for Ann Arbor, and that’s the case in other places that have public power,” Geiringer said. “I think we’ll also see an increase in equity — the possibility for programs that help low-income people pay their bills.”

However, in an email to The Daily, DTE spokesperson Ryan Lowry wrote that a study commissioned by the company determined that city-run electricity would actually raise rates for customers.

“When it comes to municipalization, studies show Ann Arbor will be saddled with at least $2 billion of new debt and rates will increase for residents and businesses 30-40% overnight,” Lowry wrote.

DTE also argued that its CleanVision Integrated Resource Plan, proposed in 2022, intends to end coal use by 2032 and have net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Michigan state law requires energy companies to submit an Integrated Resource Plan every five years. The Michigan Public Service Commission approved DTE’s plan, which follows all state regulations. Additionally, DTE’s Rider 18 Distributed Generation Program compensates DTE customers for the excess electricity they generate through solar panels. 

Geiringer said while DTE has said it intends to stop using coal, it will shift to non-renewable natural gas over renewable energy sources.

“When they talk about getting rid of coal, if you are even to believe it, they are only doing so to replace it with fossil gas,” Geiringer said. “Although people have falsely tried to claim (natural gas is) somehow greener than other fossil fuels, the new data shows that methane leakage from fossil gas makes as much or more of a greenhouse impact than even burning coal.”

Lowry contested that DTE has recently improved service and remains committed to clean energy.

“DTE Energy is committed to delivering a reliable, affordable and clean energy future for Ann Arbor,” Lowry wrote. “We are on pace to invest $360 million in infrastructure improvements in the city from 2019 to 2029, dramatically improving reliability. And customers are seeing results. In fact, DTE customers in Ann Arbor experienced a nearly 90% improvement in time spent without power between 2023 and 2024, and they are seeing continued improvements this year, with more than 70% improvement compared to the same period in 2024.”

Geiringer told The Daily Ann Arbor could start a trend by replacing DTE with public power, inspiring similar changes in the rest of the state.

“Although there’s a lot of public power in Michigan, all of which is cheaper, more reliable and more renewable than DTE, none of those public power utilities underwent the process that we are undergoing of taking over the power from a private utility,” Geiringer said. “So if we did it, it would make places like Detroit, places like Ypsilanti, able to do so much easier. DTE also is afraid that we would start a precedent, and that (cities) would continue to fight these fights. That is one of the reasons they’re very intent on stopping us.”

Higgins said residents are joining together for a common goal, one that encapsulates the innovative spirit of Ann Arbor, named in part for its groves of trees.

“As someone who grew up here in Ann Arbor, I think of this city as one that cares very deeply about nature and the environment — to an extent, it’s sort of in the name,” Higgins said. “I think that this movement is really all about putting the power of people and the citizens of Ann Arbor over the profits that go to the shareholders. And I think that everybody can get behind that.”

Daily Staff Reporter Dominic Apap can be reached at dapap@umich.edu.