Consumers Energy is requesting another electricity rate hike, submitting a request to the Michigan Public Service Commission a week before its last approved request kicks in.

As thousands remained without power following an ice storm that ravaged northern Michigan last week, Consumers Energy on Friday submitted a request to hike rates on its 1.9 million customers.

The request came just 364 days after the monopoly utility provider filed its last announced rate hike, a $154 million increase approved by the MPSC in March that’s set to take effect on April 4, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Nessel contends Consumers’ intended application date for the increase of June 2 would be 366 days from the company’s last application. State law limits utility companies to no more than one rate hike request every 12 months, measured by the actual application date.

“By allowing Consumers Energy and DTE to file a new rate hike every twelve months, the State is allowing these billion-dollar businesses to ask for more and more before anyone can even gauge the impact of the previous rate hike,” Nessel said in a statement. “Meaning they’re back asking for more money before anybody knows if their proposed investments made any difference in reliability or affordability for customers.”

Michigan residents pay among the nation’s highest utility rates for some of the least reliable service in the country.

“We plan to roll up our sleeves and accelerate building the electric grid for the next generation,” Greg Salisbury, the company’s vice president of grid design, said in a statement following the MPSC’s approval of a $154 million rate hike last month. “We want our neighbors to know we will be working every day to make our system more reliable and more resilient to keep the lights on, even after the worst storms.”

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Consumers continued to grapple with more than 170,000 power outages across Michigan on Tuesday, days after freezing rain downed trees power poles and knocked out electrical service to entire communities, The Associated Press reports.

On Wednesday, 2,028 outages impacting 75,113 customers remained, according to Consumers’ outage map. Media reports suggest as many as 900,000 lost power in the weekend storm that moved across Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada.

“We’ve been sitting ducks for three days without power, and the morale is officially starting to lower because our homes are only getting colder,” Petra Tank, a 32-year-old from Petoskey who was forced to stay temporarily with a friend 25 miles away, told the AP. “It’s just kind of a free-for-all.”

The situation isn’t uncommon.

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The MPSC in February approved a plan that could require Consumers and DTE to pay fines of up to $10 million if the companies don’t cut down on power outages in the coming years, a move inspired by roughly 934,000 customers who lost power in a Feb. 2023 ice storm, according to MLive.

The plan, which would provide the $10 million as performance bonus if outages decline, followed an audit by Liberty Consulting Group released in September that found both DTE and Consumers were “worse than average” in terms of power outages, restoration delays, and tree-trimming in both 2022 and 2023.

The Liberty report trailed analysis of data from the research nonprofit Climate Central last year that showed Michigan residents suffer more and longer power outages than all but two states, despite paying 11% more for their monthly bill than the U.S. average, Bridge Michigan reports.

The analysis found only Texas and California – the top two states for population – have recorded more major power outages impacting 50,000-plus customers than Michigan, putting the state ahead of all others in the Great Lakes region and states routinely impacted by hurricanes, such as Louisiana and Florida.

“Consumers Energy just got the green-light to raise electric rates, and one week later they’re back with their hands out before putting any of their new earnings to work for their customers,” Nessel said. “My office will continue to hold Consumers Energy and DTE accountable before the Commission, and expose again and again the unjustifiable costs they try, perennially, to foist upon their bill-paying customers.”

While it remains unclear how much Consumers will request in June, the company alleged Nessel is “wrong on the facts, and her statement is misleading.”

“Consumers Energy has told state regulators we intend to file a rate request no sooner than June 2,” a spokesperson told WILX. “We have not made an actual request.”

Nessel’s statement on Tuesday included a link to documents submitted to the MPSC on March 28 by Gary Gensch, a regulatory attorney for Consumers.

“Enclosed for electronic filing in the above captioned case please find Consumers Energy Company’s Filing Announcement,” the cover letter read.

Other documents in the attachment included the actual signed filing announcement, as well as proof of service the announcement was served.