Michigan operates partial deregulation. The MPSC caps Alternative Electric Supplier (AES) participation at 10 percent of each utility load. Residential customers in DTE and Consumers Energy territories must apply through a waitlist or lottery to access supplier choice when 10 percent capacity exists. Commercial customers face the same 10 percent cap but the waitlist clears faster because of higher per-account load.
How the 10 percent cap works
The MPSC caps total Alternative Electric Supplier participation in each utility at 10 percent of the utility's total annual load. When the cap is reached, new AES enrollments are paused until existing AES customers drop off (move out, switch back, or expire contracts).
DTE and Consumers Energy each manage their own waitlist. The waitlist clears periodically as existing AES contracts end and customers return to default service or choose to leave.
Residential access to AES
Residential customers typically face the longest waitlist because per-account load is small (each residential customer takes a small slice of the 10 percent cap). Commercial customers face shorter waitlists because their larger per-account load means fewer accounts to fill the cap.
When AES capacity becomes available, MPSC notifies waitlisted customers via mail. Customers have a window to enroll before the slot moves to the next person on the list.
Detroit and suburb-by-suburb
Detroit proper is split between DTE (electric) and DTE/Consumers (gas). Suburbs are similarly split. The 10 percent cap applies per-utility, not per-customer, so Detroit residents face the same waitlist as outstate Michigan.
Some Michigan suburbs run aggregation programs as a workaround, but the aggregations also count against the 10 percent cap. Aggregation does not bypass the cap; it just bundles accounts within it.
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Quick answers from the editorial desk
How does the 10 percent cap work?
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